TikTok, the video-sharing social media site and first Chinese app to be a global success within three years, has revealed plans to build a brand new data centre in Ireland. The company owned by the Chinese company Bytedance, have said they will invest $500,000 and the promise of hundreds of new jobs, but didn’t confirm the precise location in Ireland for its plans.
The disclosure is a bit of a blow for the UK government who had high hopes to capture the deal following rumours of TikTok opening it’s European international headquarters in London after stating it would not block the move under pressure from Donald Trump and the US who are vehemently against TikTok and plan to ban the site over concerns it could syphon important high-risk data and information to the Chinese Government,
TikTok has found itself locked in a quarrel between the US and China over security and the Donald Trump administration has threatened to ban the site unless a US buyer can be found by the middle of September. Microsoft US is thought to be planning to finalise a deal for a takeover of TikTok’s US business.
TikTok has one hundred million users in the US alone and the app has been downloaded over two billion times threatening Facebook who has set up an Instagram Reels in competition within fifty countries including Britain and in India where Tiktok has been banned. The move to create a third data centre in Europe within two years would show that fears over any data transfer concerns would be dispelled due to information and privacy rights being held on TikTok’s European servers.
TikTok has declared that its plans for the data site in Ireland had started before President Trump suggested he would ban the new tech giant and TikTok’s director of public policy in Europe, Theo Bertram, a former advisor to two British prime ministers, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, said that the move to Ireland showed TikTok’s long-term commitment to Europe and the importance of Ireland in the company’s plans.
Leave a Reply