TikTok has been changing its systems to regionally store user data TikTok stated it has finished migrating information on its U.S. customers to servers at Oracle Corp, in a move that would deal with U.S. regulatory concerns over data integrity on the famous short video app.
- TikTok stated it has done migrating information on its U.S. users to servers at Oracle Corp, in a move that would deal with U.S. regulatory concerns over data integrity on the famous short video app.
- The move, which was first stated by Reuters, comes almost years after a U.S. national security panel ordered parent organisation ByteDance to divest TikTok due to fears that U.S. user data might be passed on to China’s communist government.
- TikTok is one of the world’s most famous social media apps, with more than 1 billion lively users globally, and counts the U.S. as its biggest market. The United States has been increasing scrutinizing app developers over the personal data they handle, particularly if some of it includes U.S. military or intelligence personnel.
- The order to sell off TikTok was not enforced after Joe Biden succeeded Donald Trump as U.S. president last year. The panel, referred to as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), however, has persisted to harbor concerns over data protection at TikTok that ByteDance is now hoping to deal with, Reuters previously stated.
- The White House had no immediate comment whilst the U.S. Treasury declined to comment. In March, Reuters stated that TikTok was nearing a deal for Oracle Corp to store its U.S. users’ data.
- Oracle had mentioned obtaining a minority stake in TikTok in 2020, whilst ByteDance was under U.S. pressure to sell the app. TikTok stated, that the cloud computing giant now stores all of TikTok’s U.S. user data on Oracle records servers in the United States under the brand new partnership. Oracle declined to remark.
DATA SECURITY TEAM
- TikTok had formerly been storing its U.S. user data at its own data centres in Virginia, with a backup in Singapore. It will now delete personal records on U.S. users from its own data centres and depend completely on Oracle’s U.S. servers, it stated. The Virginia and Singapore facilities are still being used to back up the information, the organisation stated.
- TikTok has additionally set up a dedicated U.S. data security group referred to as “USDS” as a gatekeeper for U.S. user data and ringfencing it from ByteDance, an organisation spokesperson told Reuters.
- Led by Andrew Bonillo, who was an executive at TikTok’s global protection department, the USDS presently reviews TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, the spokesperson stated. The organisation is discussing a structure under which the group might perform autonomously and not be under TikTok’s control or supervision, a source informed Reuters.
