Tiktok to build $500m European data centre in Ireland
Tiktok has plans to spend $500m (£375m) on building a data centre in Ireland, it said today, which will look after the short-form video app’s European user data.
The stored data will include personal information such as phone numbers and location data, messages and videos.
Such information is currently stored in the US, but Tiktok said last month it was planning to transfer the data to Ireland for ease of management.
The centre is expected to be operational by 2022, after which all European data will be stored there. Tiktok said the move will create hundreds of jobs, as well as shorten load times for European users.
It comes as Tiktok seeks to distance itself from its Chinese parent Bytedance, over US concerns that it could be required to give up user information to Beijing.
The app is currently in talks to sell its US operations to Microsoft, which would also encompass its businesses in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. This is because all those countries are managed by the same team, Tiktok director Theo Bertram told the BBC.
The deal with Microsoft must be concluded by 15 September, or Tiktok faces a total ban by US President Donald Trump.
The shift in user data is expected to be scrutinised by an EU privacy taskforce, after the Irish Data Protection Commission requested a review to ensure Tiktok’s changes meet European standards.
Tiktok has yet to reveal the location of the data centre. It established its Trust and Safety Hub for Europe, the Middle East and Africa in Dublin earlier this year.