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The well-known video streaming platform, TikTok, has modified its privacy policy for users based in European countries. Based on a report, the new policy allows TikTok employees to access the data of each user from the mentioned region.
This platform currently keeps European user information in Singapore and the US. The revision is included in their ongoing data governance to limit employee access to European users, lessen the data flows outside the app, and store the information closely.
The updates in the TikTok privacy policy are already effective for users in the UK, Switzerland, and the European Economic Area. The firm could allow a limited number of employees to access the data.
The ByteDance-owned company also explained that their decision is subject to a series of security controls and approval controls and by a method that the GDPR accredits. Moreover, these employees live globally in countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Japan, Israel, Canada, Brazil, Singapore, South Korea, the US, and China.
TikTok assured everyone that their employees could not pinpoint a user’s location. The firm’s security controls contained system access restrictions, encryption, and network security. Additionally, the new data privacy policy does not gather precise location data from its European users.
This new alteration also takes place against regulatory criticism of the platform in the Atlantic region, which has more than a billion monthly active users. ByteDance has constantly insisted that their government does not control their platform in China.
These concerns from other countries are always present after an incident last July, where the platform allowed itself to serve targeted ads to European users without consent. The ads depended on the users’ activity within TikTok.
The company also faced numerous backlashes from the United States, which resulted in the suggestion to ban the application for national security concerns. The concern is that the company might expose user data to the Chinese authorities.
The company still operates in numerous countries despite being accused of malicious actions benefiting their government.
