Read more at source.
Read more at source.
The Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA) doesn't make it illegal to have TikTok on your phone. However, it requires app stores and cloud hosting services to stop distributing, maintaining, or updating TikTok. This puts the pressure on Apple, Google, and infrastructure providers like Oracle to stop new users from downloading TikTok and to prevent new content or software updates from reaching the app's users. Over time, TikTok would likely degrade and become unusable.
In India, TikTok was banned in 2020, and the company also proactively blacked out the app. Users had to remove their Indian SIM card or use an international SIM card and then run a VPN to load content in the app. In the early hours of the US ban, it was unclear exactly how feasible it would be to get around the restrictions for US accounts. It seemed that TikTok had taken a more extreme approach, blocking any US builds of the app and US-linked accounts regardless of IP address or SIM country information.
Running a VPN alone was not enough to circumvent the ban and get back on TikTok. However, using a non-US TikTok account after removing a SIM (or on a device without a US SIM card/US phone number) worked when combined with a VPN. Similarly, using a VPN with a desktop browser or the Tor Browser was enough to get a non-US TikTok account to load in the US early on Sunday morning, though TikTok's desktop version has always been more limited than its mobile app.
Such a ban has never existed in the US before, so the technical methods being employed to implement it are still evolving, and circumvention techniques may need to change as well.
