Video-sharing app TikTok says it plans to launch a European Transparency and Accountability Centre to allow researchers and policymakers to see how it moderates content, how its recommendation technology works and how it handles data.

The announcement comes at a time the company faces lawsuits alleging it fails to protect children and breaks consumer laws.

The centre will initially open virtually, followed by a base in Ireland next year.

“We recognise our responsibility to gain the trust of our community and the broader public,” Cormac Keenan, the company’s head of trust and safety, was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

Last month TikTok and its Chinese parent ByteDance were sued in Britain’s High Court for potentially billions of dollars on allegations they illegally harvested private data of millions of European children. Tiktok says the claims lack merit.

Two months earlier, European Consumer Organisation BEUC filed a complaint with the European Commission and the network of Europe’s consumer protection authorities alleging TikTok may have breached the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) through misleading processing of personal data as well as failing to protect children from hidden advertising and inappropriate content.

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