Tiktok | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
TikTok is reportedly close to finalizing a deal with Oracle that would see the short-form video platform storing its US users’ data without providing access to Chinese parent company ByteDance. As first reported by Reuters, a dedicated team of engineers and cyber security workers would act as gatekeepers for US users’ data and would likely not be under TikTok’s supervision.
According to a report by BuzzFeed News, the agreement is known internally at TikTok as “Project Texas,” a reference to Oracle’s Austin, Texas headquarters. The company will put in place new controls that restrict access to US user data, which it will later recreate in Europe, BuzzFeed reported. But BuzzFeed says it’s still undecided how much access Chinese managers…
