The $500 million (£380 million) investment will the company’s determination to remain active outside the United States in the face of a potential ban by President Trump.

Bytedance, the Chinese owner of the popular video-sharing app, said that TikTok would pick Ireland to build its third data centre the Times has revealed.

This would be alongside its two existing bases in America and Singapore.

TikTok said the move would mean that information on British and European users would be hosted on Irish servers.

This is hoped to give app users confidence “that their data is secure and that we are protecting their privacy”.

The move highlights TikTok’s efforts to promote its protection of data amid US criticism.

The building project is yet to be announced, and promised hundreds of new jobs.

It is hoped the centre will be built within two years.

The announcement came amid speculation that TikTok will open a new international headquarters in London.

The UK government previously announced that it would not block such a move.

TikTok said that the plan to open a new data centre in Ireland had been in the works before Mr Trump suggested he might ban the app in the US.

The video-sharing app has found itself at the centre of a spat between the Trump administration and China over how it handles users’ data.

The US has said that TikTok’s American services must be acquired by a domestic company or igt will be banned over concerns that it could siphon data to the Chinese government if asked to do so.

Bytedance has always strongly denied it would accept such a request.

China's media recently lashed out at Washington, accusing the US of "cowardice" over recent actions towards the app.

US President Donald Trump has given Microsoft and ByteDance – TokTok’s owner – 45 days from last Sunday to come to an agreement.

Mr Trump’s willingness to allow a US firm to purchase TikTok comes just two days after he said he was planning to ban the app outright.