Home Tech How to get around the TikTok ban in the US

How to get around the TikTok ban in the US

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How to get around the TikTok ban in the US

In the early hours of the US ban, it was unclear exactly how feasible it would be to circumvent the restrictions for US accounts. It appeared that TikTok had taken a more extreme approach, blacking out any US versions of the app, blocking versions of the TikTok app software that had been created to be downloaded and used by US users. It also appeared that US-linked accounts were being blocked regardless of the IP address or country information on the SIM card.

Running a VPN alone certainly wasn’t enough to bypass the ban and get back on TikTok. But apparently using a TikTok account outside the US after removing a SIM (or on a device without a US SIM card or US phone number) worked when combined with a VPN . Similarly, using a VPN with a desktop browser or the Tor browser was enough for a non-US TikTok account to load in the US early Sunday morning, although the desktop version TikTok has always been much more limited than its mobile application.

“TikTok inspects the source IP of network packets; if the source IP belongs to India, it discards the packets,” explains Gosain about the restrictions in India. “In addition, the TikTok app retrieves the country information included in the SIM card and, if the country code is ‘IN’, filters the network connection. When we remove the SIM card, the TikTok app fails to identify Indian users from the SIM card and when we use VPN, the IP address changes and no longer belongs to the Indian IP range. Thus, TikTok again fails to identify that the user is accessing from India. “This way we avoid filtering.”

Virtual private networks, or VPNs, work by passing your Internet traffic through servers that are physically maintained in locations around the world, so you can select an IP address that is linked to a different location than the one you are physically located in. . For example, American TikTok users can use VPNs to make it appear that they are accessing the Internet from outside the US. VPNs also prevent your Internet Service Provider (ISP) from seeing your browsing data, which adds a additional potential layer of privacy. When you use a VPN, your ISP will simply see the connections to the VPN instead of having access to the detailed list of all the websites you are visiting.

As a result of these capabilities, VPNs are frequently used in an attempt to bypass digital geolocation restrictions, such as those on Netflix or other streaming platforms. They are also an important and familiar tool for circumventing Internet censorship programs for people living under authoritarian regimes such as those in Russia, China, and Iran.

However, using a VPN comes with some caveats. Some commercial VPNs record people’s browsing history, which essentially transfers data collection from ISPs to VPN manufacturers. This means that the data is no longer protected and that authorities could request it from a VPN provider in the same way they do from ISPs. As a result, choosing a free VPN is generally not a good idea; some even sell access to your home Internet connections. But some VPNs publish no-logging policies and offer third-party audits and other transparency features in an attempt to demonstrate their compliance.

For now, it appears that TikTok’s efforts to block US users are extremely draconian and even a non-US SIM card or no SIM card plus a VPN may not be a viable path to re-accessing the app with a US TikTok account. But the restrictions may only be temporary anyway. In practice, there appears to be little interest in a permanent ban in the United States. And, despite originating the idea, President Trump has said in recent days that you don’t want the app to be banned.

“My decision on TikTok will be made in the not-too-distant future, but I must have time to review the situation,” Trump said in a Social Truth Posting on Friday. “Stay tuned!”

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