TikTok, the famous Chinese social media app, revealed its latest data security plan. Why? Europe was concerned that TikTok may be spying on its users for the Chinese Communist Party.
To address these concerns, TikTok has rolled out “Project Clover,” – a new strategy to create a safe and secure environment for all of its European users’ data. It’s the same as “Project Texas.” And get this – it will cost TikTok a whopping $1.3 billion! That’s a lot of cash, but it’s all worth it to protect their users.
Under this project, they’re moving all of their European user data to servers in Ireland and Norway. This means that user data will be kept far away from prying eyes, and that’s a big win for privacy and security.
TikTok officials said in a press conference.
“Building on our data security approach in the U.S., we are further enhancing these controls by introducing security gateways that will determine employee access to European TikTok user data and data transfers outside of Europe,”
The opinion extended with the following words as well.
“This will add another level of control over data access. Any data access will not only comply with the relevant data protection laws but also have to first go through these security gateways and additional checks.”
To make it more transparent, TikTok is going to involve a third-party European cybersecurity company. It will keenly look over data exchange. The key responsibility of this monitoring and auditing company will be to report any suspicious data transfer event. Till this time, the company name still needs to be unveiled.
All of the moment is the response to the White House-backed new senate bill about the future of TikTok in the U.S. this bill may end the era of social media platforms in its country. That government has alleged that TikTok poses a threat to national security. Similarly, European nations have also made similar accusations against the app, but concrete evidence still needs to be presented. TikTok has around 150 million users in Europe, while the U.S. boasts nearly 100 million users.
TikTok is taking all these steps to make itself alive in the U.S. and Europe. As mentioned, both of these regions have the major audience group. Europe is on the route to following in the footsteps of the U.S.A. as in the last days, and the European Commission announced to delete the TikTok from all government officials’ devices.
There has been some debate around the potential access of the Chinese Communist Party to TikTok’s data. However, there is hope that a project called Clover could help to ease concerns that some European nations may have about this issue. Nevertheless, in the United States, there are also concerns that TikTok, being of Chinese origin, may promote Chinese government ideology, which could further complicate matters given the current tensions between the two countries amidst a trade war and China’s growing global influence.
