TikTok tries to protect the security of its US platform

In an effort to answer questions about the data storage of US TikTok users, the short video app is believed to have completed the migration of data related to its US customers to servers at Oracle. This move could meet the demands of US regulators who were concerned about the integrity of the data collected in the app.

Trump’s election loss to Biden kept TikTok out of the hands of American companies

As reported by Reuters, this move comes a few years after a national security panel ordered TikTok parent ByteDance to divest itself from TikTok to prevent the Communist Chinese government from collecting US user data. But that order was never completed after Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump to win the US presidency. The national security panel, known as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), continues to voice its concerns about data security on TikTok.

TikTok Moved US User Data Storage to Oracle Owned Servers

The US has targeted app developers and the personal information they monitor, especially data belonging to US military or intelligence agencies. In the blog post published it on Friday, TikTok wrote that it has “long stored US user data in its own data centers in the US and Singapore. In the blog post, TikTok notes that “our data center in Virginia includes physical and logical security controls such as gated entry points, firewalls and intrusion detection technologies.”

TikTok added: “It is also important to maintain backup data storage locations to guard against catastrophic scenarios where user data could be lost. The company added that “our data center in Singapore serves as the backup data storage location for our American users.”

You may recall that Oracle was once one of three US companies involved in talks to buy the popular app. The other two companies were Microsoft and Walmart. TikTok’s own servers will eventually be removed and as the company said, “Today, 100% of US user traffic is being diverted to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. We are still using our US and Singaporean data centers for backup, but as we continue with our work, we will expect to remove US users’ private data from our own data centers and turn it entirely to Oracle cloud servers in the states.

TikTok wants to clear any doubt about the security of the data centers used in the US

TikTok has also established a special US data security team known as “USDS” to act as a gatekeeper for US user information. The USDS team tries to protect the data collected from US users. “We know we are one of the most researched platforms from a security perspective, and we strive to remove any doubt about the security of US user data,” the social media company said. “We are committed to earning and maintaining the trust of our community and will continue to work every day to protect our platform and provide a safe, welcoming and enjoyable experience for our community.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said last year the administration is “very serious about protecting Americans’ data” but criticized Trump’s approach. “Executing an executive order that is meaningless on TikTok is not the way to force change on the platform,” Raimondo said.