TikTok’s plan to open European headquarters in Dublin questioned by Irish watchdog
- Video sharing app’s promises on data security ‘not satisfactorily road-tested or … implemented’, Irish Data Protection Commission says
- ‘We are unclear as to the relationship between TikTok UK and the wider ByteDance business,’ it says
The company’s plan to set up a European headquarters in Dublin is in doubt, with Irish authorities raising questions about its organisational and reporting structure.
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) said it “remains to be convinced” that TikTok’s Chinese parent company would not be making decisions on behalf of the European office, according to a letter sent to TikTok in August and seen by the South China Morning Post.
Referring to TikTok’s current operations in London, the DPC said: “We are unclear as to the relationship between TikTok UK and the wider ByteDance business, particularly as it appears that the two companies may share the same employees in the UK.”
In Europe, officials are concerned about TikTok’s ability to protect European data and if it is committed to running its European operations independently from its parent company.