TikTok set to add new data centers in Europe

LONDON — TikTok said Friday that it’s planning two more European data centers, as the popular Chinese-owned video sharing app seeks to allay growing concerns about data privacy for its users in the West.

TikTok has been under fire from European and American authorities over concerns that it could scoop up user data and send it to China.

The company’s general manager for European operations, Rich Waterworth, said in a blog post that it is “at an advanced stage of finalizing a plan” with a third-party provider for a second data center in Ireland. It announced its first center there last year.

TikTok also is in talks to set up a third European data center, without specifying a location.

“In line with the growth of our community, we’re looking to expand our European data storage capacity,” Waterworth said.

Data for European TikTok users will be migrated to the new centers starting this year, Waterworth said.

TikTok is wildly popular, but its Chinese ownership has raised fears that Beijing could use it to collect data on Western users or push pro-China narratives and misinformation. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company that moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020.

A top European Union official warned CEO Shou Zi Chew in January that the company would have to comply with the 27-nation bloc’s sweeping new digital rules for online platforms with 45 million or more users aimed at cleaning up illegal content and disinformation, or face potentially billions in fines. TikTok reported Friday that it had 125 million monthly active users in the EU, putting it over the threshold under the rules set to take effect later this year.