TikTok starts moving data from Europeans and lets NCC Group watch

Social medium TikTok has started storing data of Europeans in European data centers. The first data from European users are now in Dublin. Cybersecurity company NCC Group will monitor the data flow.

There will be two more data centers in Norway and Ireland for the storage of data of European users, reports TikTok. These are still under construction. The wording indicates that the company has started moving the data, but it’s not done yet. Data is now in the US and Singapore.

NCC Group will monitor the data coming in and out of the data centers, TikTok says. Parent company ByteDance has previously applied this setup in the United States, where Oracle monitors the software. With this design, ByteDance wants to avert a ban on the app in Europe and the US. Governments are afraid that the Chinese government can obtain data from citizens via TikTok and that the app can be used for espionage and influence. TikTok is banned on government phones in many European countries and US states. India completely banned TikTok a few years ago.

Render of TikTok’s data center in Dublin, Ireland