Tech
TikTok Moves US Users’ Data To Oracle Servers Due To Security Concerns
(CTN News) – The short-form video app announced Friday that its US user data has moved to Oracle’s cloud platform. The decision addresses concerns raised by US officials about the social media company’s ties to China.
According to a blog post published by TikTok, it has “changed the default storage location of US user data” to Oracle and that “100% of US user traffic” is now hosted by the cloud service provider, after more than a year of discussions.
For now, TikTok’s backups of US user data are stored on its proprietary servers in Virginia and Singapore, but they will be deleted when TikTok switches to Oracle (ORCL). TikTok did not provide a timeframe for the planned removal.
Oracle and TikTok have been working for months on a plan to handle the social media company’s US user data, including developing procedures for Oracle to audit TikTok’s handling of the data.
“These changes will enforce additional employee protections, provide more safeguards, and further minimize data transfer outside of the US,” TikTok explained.
In the Trump administration, US officials began raising concerns about ByteDance’s ownership of TikTok, saying US citizens’ data was at risk of being compromised by the Chinese government.
During that time, TikTok claimed that US user data was protected from prying eyes because it was stored in Singapore and the United States.
TikTok was banned from US app stores by the Trump administration, though the court blocked the attempt. Separately, Trump tried to force ByteDance to spin off TikTok into a new company owned primarily by US investors.
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