The Chinese application TikTok announced this Wednesday (8) that it would create two additional data centers in Europe, one in Ireland and the other in Norway, and that it would invest in the protection and data security of users on the mainland. The platform already has a hub in Dublin.

According to the announcement, the so-called “Project Clover” will create “a self-governing European enclave” amid growing European Union concerns over information security as well as national protection.

Indeed, for Europeans – as well as North Americans and Canadians – data from cellphones and personal devices can be sent to the Chinese government.

As a result, the main European bodies – Commission, Council and Parliament – have prohibited their employees from installing the application on their work mobile phones or on personal devices that penetrate the restricted areas of the institutions, such as e-mail, For example.

“We have consolidated the long-standing commitment to data protection and security in Europe. Data is not held in China and the Chinese government has never requested it,” said the vice president. of TikTok and head of government relations and public policy in Europe, Théo Bertram.

The representative reinforced that the Chinese government “has never requested data from subscribers, and if they have any, we would always refuse to provide them.”

“You have to understand that we are not a Chinese company, but an international one. The fact that ByteDance [o desenvolvedor do TikTok] was born in China does not mean that it only operates in China or that it defends the interests of Beijing. What we do is something typical of the global reality, which works to satisfy the regulations of each country in which we operate,” he stressed.

In total, the platform has around 150 million users in the EU and has also indicated that “it will improve current controls over data access by introducing new security processes”.

In addition, TikTok announced that it will appoint as a partner “a European third party specialized in data security, who will be responsible for the monitoring and auditing process on data controls and protection, who will monitor the flow and provide independent checks and will report on any discrepancies”.