TikTok gets down to business: EU user data will be safe in European data centers

The European Commissioner Thierry Breton he had been very clear when, last January, he had made it clear to the CEO of TikTok Shou Zi Chew that the platform ran the risk of incurring a ban from Europe: too many promises and few factsespecially as regards data protection and the protection of European users.

It seems though that the situation is about to become much more relaxedespecially following the announcement today of some important measures that TikTok plans to take precisely to respond to the critical issues raised by the European authorities, with which the social network absolutely wants to avoid entering into a collision course; the situation is already very hot on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean and the last thing that can benefit TikTok is a confrontation with the European Commission.

Some important innovations are therefore arriving which aim to guarantee the security of European users’ data, starting with the creation of another two data centers – for a total of three – on the territory of the Union, in order to manage on site all information related to people using TikTok from Europe. The second structure will join the one already existing in Ireland, while for the third the host country has not yet been revealed, so we have to wait for further details to get a more complete picture.

This will allow TikTok to better adapt to the directives of the Digital Services Act which will become binding from next September 2023. The social network, in fact, will migrate European user data to Irish data centers throughout 2023 and it is estimated that operations will continue also in 2024.

Rich Waterworthhead of the European Operations & Marketing section of TikTok commented on the issue in a long post on the social’s official blog (link in Source), also stating:

It is a great satisfaction for us to see how TikTok has become an integral part of the culture and daily life of Europeans. We are committed to continuing to create new opportunities for our community, even in the real world, while promoting a new standard of protection and safety so that TikTok will always remain a place capable of giving joy and enthusiasm even for years to come.

In addition to explaining how the platform intends to adapt to European regulations, Waterworth also cited positive examples of how TikTok has helped create value and opportunities in real scenarios.

Among these he mentioned the official profile of the Uffizi Gallery of Florence, the museum with the largest number of followers on TikTok Italia, which in the past has become the protagonist of very interesting initiatives including a program of live broadcasts that have significantly increased the interest of the general public in the museum. Or again, the example of is cited Camilla Clementewhich was able to create an entrepreneurial reality starting from TikTok, through the creation of its own brand (A-More).

Overall, we learn from the post. TikTok employs 5,000 employees across Europe and over the past few weeks it has significantly strengthened its efforts to combat the spread of dangerous content on its platform, including setting up a new tool capable of sanctioning the most negative creators. Who knows if this will be enough.