TikTok moves European user data to Norwegian data center

Media giant ByteDance has begun transferring data from European TikTok users to a new data center in Norway. According to Datacenter Dynamics, the initiative, worth €12 billion, is being implemented within the framework of the so-called. Project Clover is a project designed to ensure the placement of European data in the European Union. TikTok reports that the first building of its Norwegian data center campus is already operational. And the very first data center for Project Clover started operating in Ireland in 2023.

The Norwegian OSL2-Hamar campus is provided by Green Mountain – the corresponding partnership was announced in March 2023. The initial contract was for 90 W, distributed over three buildings, with the possibility of scaling up to 150 MW by 2025. The first 30 MW facility was transferred to TikTok in December 2023. It was planned that the data center would start operating in the second quarter of 2024, but the project was slowed down due to delays in obtaining permits for the new substation. However, the connection to the power grid itself was not without problems.

Since TikTok is owned by the Chinese ByteDance, several countries have expressed concern about the possible leak of data of their citizens. The greatest pressure on the social network is in the United States, where they most often come out with revelations of possible threats to national security – the sale of the local division of Oracle or Microsoft is not excluded.

Image source: TikTok

In an attempt to maintain business in Europe, ByteDance announced the Project Clover initiative. In addition to the transfer of data to Norway, the company said that independent cybersecurity solutions provider NCC Group began monitoring the movement of social network data and provided additional protection for information about Europeans.

Earlier this month, information emerged that TikTok allegedly intends to open a data center in Thailand. In June, the company said it would create an AI hub in Malaysia for RM10 billion ($2.13 billion). The company was also rumored to be considering opening a data center in Australia to support workloads throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The company also has a data center in Texas managed by Oracle.