TikTok announced significant progress on “Project Clover,” its initiative to enhance data security for over 150 million European users. The company reports the launch of new security gateways designed to restrict employee access to user data and control data transmission.

These gateways implement technical protocols to ensure that only approved employees can access certain data types. Since last summer, new security measures have been aimed at preventing China-based employees from accessing restricted data stored in TikTok’s European data enclave, including private videos and phone numbers.

For data that needs to flow internationally, TikTok is applying pseudonymization techniques to de-identify allowable data before China-based employees can access it. This includes public videos and user privacy settings.

NCC Group, a cybersecurity firm, has inspected the code for these gateways and will continue to monitor code updates. The company reports no critical vulnerabilities in its initial assessments.

TikTok is investing in three new European data centers to store European user data by default. User data migration to the first center in Ireland is already underway, with a second center in Norway set to come online later this year. The company anticipates all three centers will be operational by next year.

In the interim, TikTok has begun storing European user data in a designated secure environment called the European enclave. This includes data from the existing Irish data center and designated U.S. data centers, both inspected by NCC Group.

The company stated that access to data is subject to strict approval and authentication protocols managed by its Global Security Organization based in Europe, the U.S., and Singapore.

TikTok commits to further announcements on Project Clover’s progress over the coming year, including plans to implement advanced Privacy Enhancing Technologies.