TikTok, a Chinese video-sharing platform, has informed its customers that some of its Chinese employees have access to the data of accounts in the United Kingdom and the European Union.
According to the social media behemoth, the “privacy policy” is “based on a demonstrated necessity to execute their job.”
It has been under examination from authorities around the world, including the United Kingdom and the United States, over fears that data may be transmitted to the Chinese government.
This week, a US official demanded that the app be blocked in the United States.
The policy applies to the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, according to TikTok.
Elaine Fox, the platform’s head of privacy for Europe, stated in a statement released on Wednesday that a worldwide team assisted in maintaining a “consistent, enjoyable, and secure” user experience.
Even though TikTok currently stores European user data in the United States and Singapore, “we allow certain employees within our corporate group located in Brazil, Canada, China, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and the United States remote access to TikTok European user data,” Ms. Fox explained.
She said, “Our efforts are focused on reducing the number of staff with access to European user data, minimizing data flows beyond the area, and storing European user data locally.”
In addition, she stated that the methodology was “subject to a set of stringent security controls and approval standards, as well as using GDPR-compliant ways.”
In the same week, a senior official at the US communications watchdog stated that TikTok should be banned in the United States.
Brendan Carr, a Federal Communications Commission commissioner, stated, “I do not believe there is a road ahead other than a prohibition” (FCC).
He said that he did not believe there was a “world in which you could come up with sufficient protection on the data to have sufficient assurance that it will not return to the [Chinese Communist Party].”
ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, has frequently denied that it is under Chinese government control.
The app has been under heavy investigation from authorities in the United Kingdom, the European Union, and the United States.
Under scrutiny
In August, the British Parliament shut down its TikTok account after MPs raised concerns about the potential of data being transmitted to the Chinese authorities.
Senior MPs and peers demanded that the account be terminated until TikTok provided “credible assurances” that Beijing would not receive any data.
The Irish Data Protection Commission, the app’s primary EU regulator, has also investigated it for two privacy-related violations.
The watchdog is investigating TikTok’s handling of children’s data and whether it has complied with EU regulations regarding the transfer of personal data to countries such as China.
Concerned that user data could be shared with Chinese authorities, a US national security council ordered ByteDance to sell its American unit in 2020.
In June of this year, TikTok said that it has transferred the data of US users to servers operated by the American software giant Oracle in Austin, Texas.
TikTok refuted a report that a China-based team at ByteDance intended to use the software to track the movements of American individuals last month.
TikTok stated that it had never been used to “target” the United States government, activists, public personalities, or journalists.
Ms. Fox stated on Wednesday that the app does not collect precise location data from European users.
TikTok is the world’s fastest-growing social media app, with nearly 4 billion downloads.
Since its inception in 2017, it has generated more than $6.2 billion (£5.4 billion) in gross revenue through in-app spending, according to the analytics firm Sensor Tower.
