Discussions began several months ago to move the headquarters to London, but geopolitical tensions between China and the United Kingdom have reportedly put the brakes on negotiations
The leaders of TikTok began there several months of negotiations with the British government as part of their project to locate their global headquarters in London. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters a desire to distance itself from the Chinese government, whose social network is often accused of being too close.
In the United States, for example, there is a great fear of seeing the data collected by the platform come into the possession of the Chinese authorities. The latter is indeed suspected of being able to exert pressure on ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to access users’ personal information. Those in charge of the social network would not have made their choice, however.
Discussions with the UK interrupted?
Besides London and its project accompanied by the creation of 3,000 jobs, other cities would be considered. The Times even reports that talks with the UK have been interrupted due to a tense “geopolitical context” between the UK and China. The person quoted by Reuters indicates that London is not the only metropolis studied by the company.
Still, TikTok is pursuing an ambitious recruitment policy in several countries outside of China. The number of social network employees working in London and other major cities is expected to increase significantly in the coming years. In California, the company has already hired Kevin Mayer, a former executive at Walt Disney, to give him the responsibilities of executive director.
