Speaking to a room packed with geeks and government types in Washington last week, Will Farrell, interim security officer of TikTok’s new U.S. division, outlined how TikTok plans to assuage concerns about the company’s handling of user data. Dubbed Project Texas, the plan involves walling off TikTok’s software, data, and the mobile app for American users under the division, which will be overseen by the U.S. government and Texas-based tech giant Oracle.
“This goes beyond what any tech company is doing today—it’s much closer to government contractors,” Farrell told the conference. TikTok has spent two years and $1.5 billion on Project Texas, and is also rolling out a similar initiative tailored to European data security laws known as Project Clover, according to the company.
