TikTok is not yet out of the woods with the US government and some other countries decision to ban the app. US lawmakers are concerned that TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company, ByteDance, could share user data with the Chinese government and that it poses a national security threat. Earlier this year, TechCity reported that universities in the US have banned the app from being used on their premises. India has also banned the app due to similar concerns. More recently, the European Parliament, European Commission and EU Council banned TikTok from staff phones due to said security concerns.
In its bid to address these worries, TikTok announced a new data security regime called “Project Clover.” This project will see Tiktok storing European user data locally in Europe, beginning this year and continuing until 2024. The company also said it will build new data centers in Ireland and Norway, which will be operated by a third party. The White House has backed a new law that would give it the power to ban Chinese-owned apps like TikTok if they are a threat to national security.
TikTok is trying to show that it is willing to work with governments and regulators to address these concerns, and has created a similar system called “Project Texas” in the United States.