TikTok announces new measures to protect user data in Europe

The Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok announced on Wednesday a number of new measures it will take to strengthen the protection of user data in Europe.

The new measures include enhancing controls on access to user data, by introducing security gateways that will determine employee access to European TikTok user data and transfers of data outside Europe.

"Any data access will not only comply with the relevant data protection laws but also have to first go through these security gateways and additional checks," TikTok said.

The process will be overseen by a third-party European security company.

TikTok said that it will also use advanced technologies to ensure the privacy of user information, such as pseudonymisation of personal data so that an individual cannot be identified without additional information.

The company will begin storing its European user data locally starting from this year, by setting up two more new data centers in Ireland and Norway.

Last year, TikTok's first European data center was established in Dublin, Ireland.

"Once operational, these three data centers will represent a total annual investment of 1.2 billion euros (1.26 billion U.S. dollars)," TikTok said.

The new measures, called "Project Clover", will be implemented throughout this year and into 2024.

TikTok currently has over 150 million users across Europe.

"With such scale comes significant responsibility," said the company. "Building trust by ensuring the safety, privacy and security of our community and their data is critical."