TikTok to set up first European data centre in Ireland

Popular video-sharing app TikTok, threatened with a ban in the United States over its Chinese ownership, on Thursday announced plans for its first data centre for European users in Ireland.

Roland Cloutier, TikTok’s global chief information security officer, said the 420-million-euro ($498 million) project would be operational by early 2022.

In a blog posting, he said it would “play a key role in further strengthening the safeguarding and protection of TikTok user data, with a state of the art physical and network security defense system planned around this new operation”.

“This new regional data centre will deliver tangible benefits, including enabling faster loading time that will help our TikTok community to enjoy an even better experience,” he wrote.