GPS News
CYBER WARS
TikTok finds 'partner' in Europe to offer security reassurances
TikTok finds 'partner' in Europe to offer security reassurances
by AFP Staff Writers
Paris (AFP) March 3, 2023

TikTok has found a partner in Europe to guarantee that users' data is not transferred to China, a company executive said on Friday, after the European Union banned the app on work devices.

The EU's main concern is over data protection as fears rise in the West over how much access the short video sharing app could give Beijing to sensitive user data from around the world.

Theo Bertram, TikTok's vice president of European public policy, said the company wanted to offer reassurances after the bloc's bans.

"There are genuine concerns that Western governments have about China and therefore as a company whose founder was Chinese.

"I think there is a higher obligation on us to demonstrate how we keep users' data secure," Bertram told AFP.

The EU's three main institutions have in the past two weeks ordered a purge of the Chinese-owned app from devices including phones and laptops used for work.

Denmark's parliament this week told MPs and all staff to remove the app from mobile devices because of the "risk of spying".

The United States has already banned the app from federal devices.

TikTok's parent company ByteDance is also under investigation by the Irish privacy regulator over whether it violated the EU's data protection law, the GDPR, with its processing of children's personal data and transfers of data to China.

TikTok is now replicating a model it has in place in the United States with Californian company Oracle, which stores the data of US users.

"All of our source code is visible by Oracle. We can't make updates without them going through," Bertram said.

The project with Oracle has cost TikTok $1.5 billion. If it is approved by US authorities, "Oracle will also ship the update (so) the next TikTok app that you get will be sent to the app store by Oracle, not by TikTok", Bertram said.

That app would also be the same one available to download in Europe, he added.

"To really convince public opinion, we need to do the same in Europe.

"We're working on three new data centres and we will work with a partner as well," he said, without naming the partner and giving more details.

TikTok has 150 million users in Europe, including 25 million in the United Kingdom. It has over a billion users worldwide.

jub/mch/sp/raz/rl/gil

ORACLE

Related Links
Cyberwar - Internet Security News - Systems and Policy Issues

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
CYBER WARS
US lawmakers advance bill on banning TikTok
Washington (AFP) March 1, 2023
A panel of US lawmakers voted Wednesday to advance a bill that would make it easier to ban Chinese-owned video sharing app TikTok, amid criticism that the proposal threatens free speech. The Deterring America's Technological Adversaries (DATA) Act passed the Republican-led House Foreign Affairs Committee on a party-line vote but faces opposition from free speech campaigners and Democrats when it comes up for votes in the full House and Senate. "My bill mandates the administration to ban TikTok o ... read more

CYBER WARS
Pincered at sea, lobsters get new hope on land in UK

US requests consultations with Mexico over anti-GMO policy

Britain's fresh produce shortages serve up blame game

Global food system emissions imperil Paris climate goals

CYBER WARS
Solid-state thermal transistor demonstrated

Apple to spend extra 1 bn euros on Munich chip hub

China invests $1.9 bn in top chipmaker: report

SwRI researching ARM, RISC-V processors for faster spaceflight computers

CYBER WARS
Two Italian military planes collide, both pilots killed

Sikorsky long-range hybrid-electric VTOL Demonstrator To Inform Future Military And Commercial Missions

Ukrainian military pilots in US to develop skills

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific posts first operating profit since 2019

CYBER WARS
Germany angers EU after putting brakes on fossil fuel car ban

Ford to resume F-150 Lightning manufacturing on March 13

EU delays vote on fossil fuel car ban as Germany holds out

EV maker Polestar passes 50,000 cars sold per year

CYBER WARS
China backing paves way for Sri Lanka financing: IMF

Chinese foreign trade starts new year in a slump

China to unveil lowest growth goal in years: analysts

Ericsson to pay over $200 mn for breaching US deal over Iraq graft: statement

CYBER WARS
Using a data cube to monitor forest loss in the Amazon

NASA to measure forest health from above

Boreal forest fires a 'time bomb" of carbon emissions

France, NGOs pledge 100 mn euros to protect tropical forests

CYBER WARS
China to launch LEO constellation of remote sensing satellites

SOFIA Makes First Detection of Heavy Oxygen in Earth's Upper Atmosphere

UN targets real-time tracking of greenhouse gases

Airbus wins contract from Angola for Earth observation satellite Angeo-1

CYBER WARS
Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.