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If TikTok does indeed go dark for Americans on Sunday, there may be a tool for them to continue accessing the popular social app: VPNs.
The Chinese-owned app will be removed from web and mobile app stores for US users on Sunday as a result of a law signed by President Joe Biden in April 2024 that requires the app to be sold to a qualified buyer before of the deadline.
Barring a last-minute sale or a reprieve from the Supreme Court, the app will almost certainly disappear from app stores for iPhone and Android phones. It won’t be removed from people’s phones, but the app might stop working.
TikTok plans to shut down its service to Americans on Sunday, meaning even those who already have the app downloaded will no longer be able to use it, according to reports this week. from Reuters and The information. Apple and Google It did not comment on its plans to remove the apps from its app stores on Sunday.
“Basically, an app or a website can check where users are coming from,” said Justas Palekas, head of product at IProyal.com, a proxy service. “Based on that, they can impose restrictions based on your location.”
Mask your physical Internet access point
That may stop most users, but for particularly motivated Americans, using a VPN could allow them to continue using the app.
VPNs and a business-to-business technology called proxies work by funneling a user’s Internet traffic through a server in another country, making it appear that they are accessing the Internet from a different location than where they are physically located.
This works because every time a computer connects to the Internet, it identifies itself through an IP number, which is a 12-digit number that is different for each computer. The first six digits of the number identify the network, which also includes information about the physical region where the request comes from.
In China, people have used VPNs for years to get around the country’s firewall, which blocks American websites like Google and Facebook. VPNs saw huge increases in traffic when India banned TikTok in 2020, and people often use VPNs to watch sporting events from countries where official broadcasts are not available.
By 2022, the VPN market was worth nearly $38 billion, according to the VPN Trust Initiative, a lobbying group.
“We consistently see significant spikes in demand for VPNs when access to online platforms is restricted, and this situation is no different,” said Lauren Hendry Parsons, privacy advocate at ExpressVPN, a VPN provider that costs $5 per user to use. month.
“We’re not here to endorse TikTok, but the impending US ban highlights why VPNs are important: millions of people depend on them for secure, private, unrestricted access to the Internet,” ProtonVPN posted on social media in early this week. ProtonVPN offers its service for $10 per month.
The price of VPNs
Both ExpressVPN and ProtonVPN allow users to configure their internet access location.
Most VPN services charge a monthly fee to pay for their servers and traffic, but some use a business model where they collect user data or traffic trends, such as when Meta offered a free VPN so we could keep an eye on which competing apps were growing rapidly.
A key disadvantage for those using VPNs is speed because requests have to flow through an intermediary computer to mask the users’ physical location.
And while VPNs have worked in the past when governments banned apps, that’s no guarantee they’ll work if TikTok goes down. It won’t be clear whether ExpressVPN will be able to access TikTok until the ban occurs, Parsons told CNBC in an email. It’s also possible that TikTok could identify Americans trying to use VPNs to access the app.
(L-R) Sarah Baus of Charleston, SC, holds a sign that reads “Keep TikTok” as she and fellow content creators Sallye Miley of Jackson, Mississippi, and Callie Goodwin of Columbia, SC, stand outside the Supreme Court building as the court hears oral arguments on whether to repeal or delay a law that could lead to the ban of TikTok in the US, on January 10, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Andres Harnik | fake images
VPNs and proxy servers to bypass regional restrictions have been part of the internet landscape for decades, but their use is increasing as governments look to ban certain services or apps.
Apps are removed at the request of the government all the time. Nearly 1500 apps were removed. in regions due to government removal demands in 2023, according to Apple, with more than 1,000 of them in China. Most of them are fringe apps that break laws such as those banning gambling or Chinese video game rules, but more and more countries are banning apps for reasons of national security or economic development.
Now, the United States is about to ban one of the most popular apps in the country: with 115 million users, it was the second most downloaded app in 2024 on both iOS and Android, according to an estimate provided to CNBC by Sensor Tower, a Market intelligence company.
“As we witness increasing attempts to fragment and censor the Internet, the role of VPNs in defending Internet freedom becomes increasingly critical,” Parsons said.
