Tiktok to build data center in India to store user data locally

The popular Chinese video sharing platform TikTok is said to be building a new data center in India, according to Britain's Financial Times. The news comes amid efforts by the company to maintain friendly relations with the government in India in order to avoid a possible ban. It has also been reported that India's government is working on a data protection bill.

The TikTok logo is seen displayed on a smartphone. [File photo: IC]

TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, said in a statement that their new data center will support India's latest data protection legislation, which will require technology companies to store the data of its citizens locally. The company says it is scouting suitable secure locations. The data center will cost an estimated 100 million U.S. dollars.

According to CNN, India is one of TikTok's biggest markets. India Today reported that the data of the platform's Indian users are currently stored in third-party data centers in the United States and Singapore. According to the Financial Times, TikTok has 120 million active users per month in India.

TikTok has been under a lot of pressure in India and is being closely watched by regulators. The app was pulled from app stores in India in April over claims it exposed children to inappropriate content, including pornographic material. The app was available to be downloaded again on April 30 after the company went to court to fight the ban.