TikTok seeks to ease European concerns over data security issues

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TikTok launched a new effort on Wednesday to relieve European leaders' concerns over data security as Western governments examine banning the video-sharing application. 

This was due to a Czech cyber watchdog issuing a warning, calling the Chinese-owned app a security threat.

The European Union and the United States took harsh approaches toward the application owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, voicing concerns that Beijing could access sensitive information from around the world. 

Read more: Congress presents bill to ban TikTok to 'protect citizens'

TikTok assured that it was working for a European security company that will oversee how European users' data are being handled. The data will be stored in separate centers in Dublin and Norway starting in 2023. European users' data is currently being stored in Singapore. 

TikTok announced that this initiative will reduce its own employees' access to user data.

With a refusal to name the partner, the three centers will cost 1.2 billion euros annually; the project began six months ago, said Theo Bertram, TikTok's vice president of European public policy, in an online briefing.

TikTok made the same deal in the United States with Silicon Valley to keep US users' data in the country.

"In the same way we have done... in the US, we'll build a secure environment around that data to prevent access from outside of the region," Bertram said.

TikTok adheres to European policymakers

TikTok's general counsel Erich Anderson is in Europe this week to convince lawmakers that there is nothing to worry about through holding talks with policymakers in Brussels and London with the intention to hold other talks with Paris and Hague.

US lawmakers are trying to ban the app from all government-issued devices, and the EU's governing institution told staff in recent weeks to remove the app from their smartphones. 

Other European countries also took similar restrictions toward the app while addressing security concerns.

Read more: US House bans TikTok from official devices for 'security reasons'

With over 150 million users in Europe, the EU pointed to concerns over data protection, to which TikTok assured that "the Chinese government never asked us for data, and if they would, we would refuse to do so."

Its National Cyber and Information Security Agency (NUKIB) said it was concerned because TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, "falls under the legal jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China."

It is worth noting that although the Czech government hasn't banned the app yet, it still introduced China as a major threat targeting Czech cyberspace.