Distancing from Chinese roots: TikTok considering shifting headquarters to London

London: Bytedance owned TikTok is considering shifting its headquarters to London as part of a strategy to distance itself from its Chinese roots and ownership.

While London is being considered as a potential location for its new headquarters it is also looking at other locations and a final decision is yet to be taken.

The move comes amid the ban imposed on TikTok in India and the United States too hinting at a similar move over over data privacy concerns. Meanwhile, the United States (US) is also aggressively scrutinising the company’s operations over suspicions China could force the company to turn over user data.

To strengthen its case in the US, the company is said to have hired aggressively in California this year, including poaching Kevin Mayer, a former Walt Disney Co executive, to be TikTok’s chief executive.

Apart from US TikTok is also looking to expand its workforce in London and other key locations outside of China over the next several years, the source said.