TikTok, the online platform favoured by young people, is moving its European privacy operations to Ireland. 

The social networking platform's Trust and Safety Hub was established in Dublin in January and the latest announcement concerns the move of all of TikTok’s European privacy operations to Ireland. 

TikTok’s privacy practices came under scrutiny when the Dutch regulator began a probe into its use of children’s data.

The site is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance and has 1,000 employees in Europe, with 800 working between the UK and Ireland.

A just-published company blog post says: “As we have expanded across the region, TikTok Ireland has become responsible for maintaining users' privacy and safety in Europe.

Moderation strategies

“Our Trust and Safety Hub in Dublin allows us to focus on strengthening policies, technologies, and moderation strategies to keep our community safe, while our new data privacy team will focus on upholding the highest standards of data protection.

“This work is overseen by the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner to drive accountability and encourage a culture of privacy awareness and compliance.”

The post says that since launching in Europe, TikTok has invested in local talent, created a regional senior leadership team, and set up essential business functions in the region. 

The Data Protection Commission is led by Helen Dixon (small picture).