Are they banning TikTok in the US? How to get around the restrictions with a VPN

US President Joe Biden has signed into law a bill that many believe is tantamount to a TikTok ban in the US.

The piece of legislation was first approved by the House of Representatives on April 20, and by the Senate on April 23. It did not take long for the US President to give his final seal of approval — Biden signed the TikTok ban into law just one day later, on April 24, 2024. This is despite the extensive lobbying by TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, which together spent over $7 million on their lobbying ad campaign trying to get officials on their side this year alone, illustrating a significant industry push. The bill is bundled with a large foreign aid package that provides aid to countries such as Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine.

Are they banning TikTok in the US now?

The bill itself does not explicitly call for TikTok to be banned. It is more nuanced. Rather, it forces TikTok’s China-based owner — ByteDance — to “divest” or sell the video-sharing app within a maximum of one year. If TikTok’s parent company fails to do so, TikTok will face a nationwide ban in the US. The bill stems from the US government’s expressed concern that the Chinese authority could force Chinese-owned companies like ByteDance to spy on US TikTok users for the sake of national security. TikTok, for its part, has repeatedly denied that it has ever shared data with the Chinese government, claiming that it would “never honor such a request if one were ever made.”

Under the newly signed law, ByteDance has 270 days, or 9 months, to divest from TikTok, which would make January 15, 2025, the deadline. The original deadline was even tighter, set at 6 months. But after debates in the House, it was revised and extended to 9 months, so that “there is enough time for a new buyer to get a deal done.” The updated deadline can be extended for an additional three months if the sale negotiations are in progress at that time, reflecting the revised legislation.

What are the chances of ByteDance selling TikTok?

TikTok CEO Shou Chew has already called the law a de facto TikTok ban in the US. “Make no mistake, this is a ban,” he said in a video statement on TikTok, of course.

A factor that makes a sale increasingly unlikely is that Chinese authorities would have to sign off on such a deal — TikTok’s prized content recommendation algorithm is on China’s export control list. And Beijing has indicated in the past that it does not plan to green-light such a transaction.

Shortly after the bill was signed into law, ByteDance made it clear that it was not even remotely considering such a move. “Foreign media reports that ByteDance is exploring the sale of TikTok are untrue,” the company was quoted as saying.

All of this makes the chances of ByteDance actually selling TikTok close to zero. So while there is a chance that TikTok won’t be banned in the US and ByteDance will end up selling the app, which now has over 170 million users in the US, or about half of the country’s total population, the odds of that happening are very low.

What is TikTok planning to do now?

TikTok has already said that it will challenge the law in court, calling it “an unconstitutional ban.” It’s likely that TikTok will argue that the law violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech. This legal challenge is set to be a crucial test of the TikTok legislation.

However, the outcome of such legal challenges is up in the air. TikTok may be encouraged by a legal victory in Montana last November when a federal judge blocked a law that sought to ban TikTok across the state. At the time, the judge ruled that Montana’s would-be TikTok ban was “likely” an overreach and “violates the First Amendment.”

However, it’s difficult to predict what will happen in U.S. courts, as the U.S. Congress’s case against TikTok is centered on national security.

Past attempts to block TikTok in the US

The previous attempt to block TikTok in the US at the federal level came during the presidency of Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump. The Trump administration attempted to do so through a series of executive orders issued in August 2020. The orders aimed to ban the popular video-sharing app, as well as WeChat and Alipay, from being distributed in the US.

The order aimed at TIkTok specifically targeted its parent company, ByteDance, and sought to prohibit any transactions with it by US citizens and prevent the app from being downloaded in US app stores. The text of the order claimed that TikTok’s ability to capture “vast swaths of information from its users” poses a risk to the US national security because it “threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.”

The Trump administration’s move was part of a broader stance against Chinese technology companies, citing the potential for data privacy breaches and misuse. However, the ban faced significant legal challenges and was never fully implemented. Courts blocked the executive order, arguing that it violated free speech and due process rights.

Ironically, it was the Biden administration that revoked this executive order in June 2021, focusing instead on a broader review of apps that might pose national security risks.

Where else is TikTok banned?

If the US ends up imposing a blanket ban on using TikTok within the country, it won’t be the first one to do so. The app has already been banned or restricted in quite a few countries. The platform is completely banned in Nepal, Iran, and, most notably, India. The reasons behind these bans are different. For instance, India banned TikTok as well as a couple of other Chinese apps after a military flare-up at the India-China border, citing a threat from these apps to India’s sovereignty. Afghanistan’s Taliban government banned TikTok to protect the youth “from being misled.”

Apart from total bans, TikTok has faced restrictions in multiple countries, including in the West, where government officials have been told to remove it from their government provided devices. These include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Ireland, and the UK — to name a few.

How to unblock TikTok in the US?

The question many people are asking now: is TikTok going to get banned this time? And it’s valid, since previous attempts by the US government to do so were blocked by courts. However, should TikTok eventually face a ban in the US, Americans seeking to regain access to the platform can resort to using VPN services like AdGuard VPN.

By connecting to a VPN server located outside the US, they can circumvent any potential restrictions imposed on TikTok usage within the country. In addition to being able to access TikTok again, AdGuard VPN will also help users safeguard their online privacy due to its encryption protocol and rerouting traffic.

To connect to a VPN server outside of the USA using AdGuard VPN, follow these steps:

• Download and install AdGuard VPN: visit the official website or download AdGuard VPN from your device’s app store. Follow the installation instructions to set up the VPN on your device

• Create an account: open the AdGuard VPN app and create a new account if you haven’t already

• Log in: after creating an account, log in to the AdGuard VPN app using your credentials

• Choose a server location: once logged in, you’ll see a list of available server locations. Select a server located outside of the USA. This must be in a country where TikTok is accessible without restrictions

• Connect to the server: tap on the server location you’ve chosen to initiate the connection. AdGuard VPN will establish a secure connection to the selected server

• Access TikTok: once the connection is established, you’re now virtually located in the chosen country. Open the TikTok app, and you should be able to access it without any restrictions

• Enjoy TikTok: you’re now free to browse, post, and engage with content on TikTok as if you were located in the chosen server’s country, all while benefiting from the privacy and security features of AdGuard VPN