TikTok

short video · live · since 2017

People watch, post and share short vertical videos and LIVE streams, served mainly through a personalised For You feed, with comments, direct messages and in-app shopping.

how dependent?

  1. 07OperatorIETikTok Technology Limited
  2. OwnerKYByteDance Ltd.CNByteDance group companies in China
  3. ProtocolKYByteDance Ltd.
  4. Shared services–None
  5. CodeSGTikTok Pte. Ltd.CNByteDance group staff in China
  6. VerificationGBYoti
  7. 06ModelsCNByteDance group teams in China
  8. 05DataUSTikTok Technology LimitedIEthe European enclave's data centre in DublinNOthe European enclave's data centre in HamarCNByteDance group companies in China
  9. 04ServersNOGreen Mountain AS?a co-location provider TikTok does not nameUSa host TikTok does not name
  10. EdgeUSAkamaiUSFastlyUSByteDance's own networkITFastweb SpA
  11. 03–01Belowcompute, networks and resources are not recorded per app

Every layer above links to what it rests on. The figure counts the EU, the EEA, Switzerland and the UK as European, as the landscape does.

How it is run

nine questions
ArchitectureWho holds your account and posts?

One company

open protocol: no

move your account and keep your followers: no

hub: ByteDance

Posts live only on TikTok's service, and the EEA terms bar extracting content with automated tools TikTok has not provided or approved. Users can download or port a copy of their data, including through a Data Portability API, but no way to move an account with its followers to another provider was found; data copies do not count here.

Business modelWho pays, and for what?

Targeted ads · a cut of sales

The EEA terms name advertisers who pay TikTok, a commission charged to sellers on TikTok Shop, and users buying virtual coins. Ads are personalised only with the user's consent, and everyone else sees generic ads; TikTok Shop reached eight more EU countries on 15 June 2026. Neither TikTok nor ByteDance publishes a revenue breakdown, so putting ads first is an inference.

OrganisationWhat kind of organisation runs it?

Investor-backed company

control: ByteDance Ltd. (Cayman Islands, private); co-founder Zhang Yiming is its largest shareholder

TikTok's CEO told the US Congress in 2023 that ByteDance was roughly 60% owned by institutional investors, 20% by its founders and 20% by employees; ByteDance's site lists investors including General Atlantic, KKR, Sequoia Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund and Susquehanna, and a board chaired by co-founder Liang Rubo. No source found says who holds a majority of the votes. ByteDance keeps 19.9% of the joint venture that has run TikTok for US users since January 2026, which does not cover the EEA.

FeedWho decides what you see?

Ranked, with a non-profiled option

The For You feed is ranked by TikTok's recommendation system from likes, shares, comments, searches and other signals. In August 2023, ahead of the DSA deadline, TikTok announced that EEA users could turn off personalisation: For You and LIVE then show popular videos from their region and worldwide, and Following and Friends show followed creators in chronological order. TikTok's current help page on the option, linked from the terms, redirected to the support home page when loaded, so its present wording could not be checked.

ModerationWho moderates?

The operator

TikTok, working with its group affiliates, reviews content against its terms and Community Guidelines, proactively and on reports from users and authorities. No user-run spaces with their own volunteer moderators were found in the EEA terms.

AI trainingDoes your content train AI?

Trains its own AI

a setting or form to opt out: no

The EEA privacy policy says TikTok uses information users provide, which it defines to include their content, to develop and improve its machine learning models and algorithms, on the basis of legitimate interests. It does not mention generative AI or licensing content to others for training. Users can object to legitimate-interest processing by request; the policy offers no dedicated training opt-out, and TikTok may continue if it has compelling grounds.

IdentityMust you prove who you are?

No ID needed

verification: Yoti

Read off the verification layer, where its sources are.

Open sourceIs the code open?

Closed source

licence: proprietary

Read off the code layer, where its sources are.

SizeHow big is it?

189M a month in the EU

counted: average monthly active recipients in the EU, as the DSA requires them

period: Jan–Jun 2026

TikTok Technology Limited's Art. 24(2) figure for January to June 2026, given in round millions and published with the seventh DSA transparency report; the figure for July to December 2025 was 178 million.

What each layer rests on

checked 25 Sep 2026
07OperatorWho serves the app?

TikTok Technology Limited · Ireland

Dublin, CRO 635755. It is the other party to the user contract in the EEA, and joint controller of users' data with TikTok Information Technologies UK Limited. Designated a very large online platform on 25 April 2023; 189 million people a month in the EU, per TikTok's seventh DSA transparency report.

07OwnerWho owns the operator, where someone else does?

ByteDance Ltd. · Cayman Islands

also ByteDance group companies in China · China: where many of the group's companies and staff are, per the Irish High Court

Held through TikTok Information Technologies UK Limited and TikTok Ltd. in the Cayman Islands, each wholly owned. ByteDance is registered in the Cayman Islands, so the layer is coded there, with China beside it. For the GDPR fine the DPC treated ByteDance and TikTok as one undertaking, under ByteDance's decisive influence. A US executive order calls ByteDance TikTok's China-based parent. The joint venture set up in January 2026 runs TikTok in the United States only; the EEA terms still name the Irish company.

07ProtocolWho writes the rules of the network?

ByteDance Ltd. · Cayman Islands

protocol: proprietary

No open or federated protocol. The EEA terms bar collecting content with any automated tool TikTok has not approved in writing.

07Shared servicesWhat does it lean on but not run?

None

07CodeWho builds the software?

TikTok Pte. Ltd. · Singapore

also ByteDance group staff in China · China: software engineering, maintenance and development, with access to EEA users' data, per the Irish High Court

licence: proprietary

The Singapore company is the trader for the app in the EU app stores. No source says the app or its algorithm is built in the EU. The web app's servers name ByteDance's own platforms in their response headers.

07VerificationWho checks users' identity, age or account?

Yoti · United Kingdom

checks: age

ID needed to post: no

A neutral date-of-birth gate at sign-up. Since January 2026 TikTok's own model flags accounts in Europe that may belong to under-13s, for a moderator to review. On appeal, age can be confirmed through Yoti's facial age estimation, a credit card or a government ID; TikTok does not name the ID vendor.

06ModelsWhose models moderate, rank or check?

ByteDance group teams in China · China

The For You feed is TikTok's own recommender, and automated systems removed 94.1% of violating content without human review. No outside model vendor is named. TikTok told the Irish High Court that EEA users' data is used in China for algorithm updates, among other work, which is why this layer is coded China; TikTok does not say where its models are built.

05DataWhere does the data sit?

TikTok Technology Limited · United States

also the European enclave's data centre in Dublin · Ireland: storage for European users, live since September 2023

also the European enclave's data centre in Hamar · Norway: storage for European users, fully live since April 2025

also ByteDance group companies in China · China: remote access to EEA users' data, for product, algorithm and outage work

where: By default a European enclave hosted in Norway, Ireland and the US, per TikTok's Project Clover pages. The EEA privacy policy names servers in the US, Malaysia and Singapore and does not mention the EEA. Two more data centres are being built in Finland.

transfers: Remote access from China continues. In 2025 the Irish DPC fined TikTok €530 million over those transfers and ordered them suspended; the order was stayed, and in June 2026 the High Court upheld the infringement and sent the orders back to the DPC. In February 2025 TikTok also found that limited EEA data had been stored on servers in China, which the DPC is investigating.

04ServersWho runs the servers?

Green Mountain AS · Norway

also a co-location provider TikTok does not name · country not established: the Dublin data centre; press names one, and the reports conflict

also a host TikTok does not name · United States: the US leg of the European enclave

region: Hamar NO and Dublin IE, both live; Kouvola FI being built and Lahti FI announced; a US site not named

TikTok rents space in data centres others run; the Hamar site was developed by Green Mountain. The origin could not be measured, because every host tried answered from a CDN or from ByteDance's own network.

04EdgeWho stands in front of them?

Akamai · United States

also Fastly · United States: some images

also ByteDance's own network · United States: video, through a ByteDance node in Rome; the network is registered to Bytedance Inc. in the US

also Fastweb SpA · Italy: houses Akamai's cache servers inside its network; Akamai runs them and the content

Measured from Italy. The web app, its APIs, the EU login and most images come through Akamai, some of them from Akamai servers inside Fastweb's network. Video comes from ByteDance's own network.

  • measured · www.tiktok.com · AS20940 Akamai · 25 Sep 2026
  • measured · login-eu.www.tiktok.com · AS20940 Akamai · 25 Sep 2026 · the EU login
  • measured · p16-common-sign.tiktokcdn-eu.com · AS30722 Fastweb (Vodafone Italia) · 25 Sep 2026 · images, from an Akamai server inside the ISP
  • measured · p19-common-sign.tiktokcdn-eu.com · AS54113 Fastly · 25 Sep 2026 · images
  • measured · v45.tiktokcdn-eu.com · AS396986 ByteDance (Bytedance Inc., US) · 25 Sep 2026 · video, via a ByteDance node in Rome

where a claim in circulation is wrong

Checked 25 Sep 2026.