Video-sharing platform TikTok said it is at an advanced stage of finalising a plan for a second data centre in Ireland with a third-party service provider.
This is in addition to a site it announced last year.
In April 2022, TikTok said it had signed contracts for a data centre in Dublin to house its UK and European user data.
In an update on its investment plans for Europe, TikTok said today that it is also in talks to establish a third data centre in Europe to further complement its planned operations in Ireland.
"European TikTok user data will begin migrating this year, continuing into 2024," said Rich Waterworth, TikTok General Manager of Operations for Europe.
TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance and has faced scrutiny over how it handles users' data because of its links to China.
The US Congress passed a bill banning the app from government devices in December over national security fears and is considering legislation that would introduce wider restrictions.
In its update today, TikTok said it remains focused on building trust with users by demonstrating to them that their data is secure.
"We're continuing to deliver against the data governance strategy we set out for Europe last year, which includes further reducing employee access to European user data; minimising data flows outside of Europe; and storing European user data locally," TikTok said.
The company said it will open its European Transparency and Accountability Centre in Dublin next month.
TikTok announced plans to develop the centre in 2021 saying it would provide experts with an opportunity to visit and see first-hand how teams at TikTok go about the "critically important work" of securing its users' safety, data, and privacy.
TikTok said it now has 150 million users in Europe and employs more than 5,000 people in 10 countries across the region.
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In June 2022, TikTok announced plans to create 1,000 jobs in Ireland, adding to the 2,000 staff already employed by the company here. TikTok has had a presence in Ireland since 2019.
Last month it said that a "small number" of its Irish-based staff were facing layoffs as part of a downsizing of its recruitment division.
