ByteDance-owned TikTok wants to convince European governments that it is an industry leader in data protection, rather than a Chinese-owned app that warrants the wave of bans across the continent.
The company outlined plans on Wednesday to build three European data centers to store information on TikTok’s 150 million users in the region locally with the help of an independent third company that will oversee data access controls. Once operational, the data centers will cost the company €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) annually.
Similar to the company’s Project Texas in the U.S., TikTok’s Project Clover is meant to assure concerned governments that the Chinese Communist Party cannot access Europeans’ data either through the front door, via official legal requests, or back door. It follows the White House endorsement on Tuesday of a bipartisan bill that could give the president authority to ban or force a sale of TikTok.