Despite the whirlwind of the past 24 hours, TikTok has not actually been "unbanned" – and in the time it went dark, it became apparent that using a VPN would not make it accessible for American users.
This past Sunday, January 19, saw the official TikTok ban take place in the United States. Many American users who logged into their accounts were met with notices stating that, "A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now."
However, just hours later, an addendum appeared noting that, "We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!"
In case you haven't been keeping track, the previous Friday (January 17) the Supreme Court upheld legislation requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok to a US company or be banned in the United States.
However, as part of his incoming Presidential popularity drive, Donald Trump pledged to save the app – overruling three branches of government, and making a U-turn on his own position regarding TikTok back in 2020.
Still, while many celebrated the fact that TikTok has been "unbanned", the fact is that it has only been given a reprieve. Trump said that he intended to give ByteDance a 90-day stay of execution, proposing a "joint venture" of American and Chinese ownership rather than the demand for a 100% sale to the US.
The President-elect said that he would "extend the period of time before the law's prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security," adding, "I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture" on his Truth Social platform.
So, TikTok appears to be here for 90 more days – though there is no guarantee what happens after that. Perhaps ByteDance will join Meta and X in throwing its lot in with Trump, and agree to joint ownership. But if not, one thing is for sure: using a VPN won't help you get around the TikTok ban.
VPNs don't work on the TikTok ban
In the time it was down on Sunday, TikTokers tried using VPNs (virtual private networks) to circumvent the ban – but the tech tactic did not work.
The best VPN software acts as a common workaround for region-locked online content – such as watching Netflix content that is only available in other territories. It does this by masking your IP address so that it appears you are accessing an online service from another region.
However, VPNs such as SurfShark had no effect on the TikTok ban while the app went dark in the United States – unlike when the app was banned in India, where VPNs still made it possible for Indian TikTokers to access it.
NBC posits that this could be because TikTok blocked the accounts registered with a US telephone number, noting that internet censorship checker NetBlocks confirmed that no internet service provider had blocked the app.
While I hope that TikTok survives beyond the apparent 90-day reprieve, if it doesn't then everyone in the US is going to have to find another digital backdoor if they want to stay on the platform.
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