The app just cant be mass deleted from people’s phones and I would think you could just use a VPN if you really wanted to use it
The company will be forced to remove the app from app stores, meaning you’d no longer get updates. Following this, there will likely be an update pushed to disable previous versions of the app.
Another way that they could do it is they would implement a feature to geoblock you from accessing it. With this, the app would see from your phone location and provider that you are in a country where it is blocked, and would simply deny you service.
That’s correct. Let’s not confuse the term ‘banned’ with ‘physically blocked’ from doing so. The law will prevent the app stores from hosting the app and that will be sufficient to prevent the average user from installing TikTok. It won’t be removed from your phone as you said, but over time as there are no new installs and people delete the app or upgrade phones or update their OS software, the user base will suffer attrition.
You’re correct that this won’t prevent determined users from side loading apps, but one of the reasons the app is popular (and apps in general) is because they’re easy to use, and a massive plurality of US users will no longer use the app over time. I’m not sure how the law applies to websites hosting the APK, US access to the website, or the data feeds which to my understanding are hosted on a US company’s’ servers, but that’s another factor.
This attrition is satisfactory to lawmakers. They’re not concerned about stopping the determined, technically proficient user.
The point is to make it as inconvenient as possible so that most people won’t bother with workarounds (VPN, side loading, server spoofing).
It will become difficult enough to use that >90% of people won’t bother with technical workarounds.
Oracle handles their servers. The US will go after anyone who continues to host them
It’ll be removed from the app stores. Existing installations won’t receive updates anymore from the app stores, and new phones can’t install it. This should lead to a slow and gradual death as older versions become incompatible with the service, and no new installs can happen.
Workarounds will likely be using web browsers and a growing number of people learning how to side load/jail break the apps on their phones.
Edit: The law also would require ISPs to block TikTok and financial processors would also block it.
These will lead to a more complete ban than just the App Store restrictions. Even those who side load the app will be restricted from accessing it and US TikTok users/creators can’t spend or receive any money from it. This means a mass exoduses of US influencers, sellers, and advertisers from the platform. And it has penalties for those who are caught bypassing the ban via VPNs.
It will be banned in the sense that you won’t be able to download it from any app stores. It won’t be deleted from phones that already have it.
Twitter was blocked in Brazil for several months earlier this year. They enforced it by having all internet service providers restrict communication with Twitter servers, effectively making it impossible for users to access the site and the app.
Sure, peple can always use a VPN. But it costs money, many don’t trust it and most couldn’t be botherered to set one up.
At least that’s been our experience with social media bans.
It can actually be mass-deleted from people’s phones. Though it is not often used, Google (and probably Apple) have this ability, and have used it to remove malicious (virus) apps from all devices once they have been detected.
How hard this ultimately makes it to access Tiktok is a separate question. There will surely be ways, including third-party app stores or sideloading, if you have a bit of tech savvy. The US does not have the Great Firewall tech in place that China and Russia use to lock down their own internet, but there are still plenty of ways to make it more difficult.
These will not stop skilled users, but they will absolutely stop the 90% of normal people from using the app. In reality, it just has to last long enough to get most people through withdrawal, and require you to go out of your way in order to relapse. It doesn’t have to be perfect to be effective.
As others have mentioned, it will be removed from app stores, so it will be more difficult to download. Of course, you will still be able to find .apk files on the web.
Moreover, since it won’t be supported, you won’t receive any updates to the app. If you need to update it, you’ll have to do so manually – via finding the most up-to-date apk from some site that hosts it.
It’s technically possible for ISPs to block all routing to tiktok which would make it impossible to use, though that’s unlikely to happen.
The app just cant be mass deleted from people’s phones
Just because Apple and Google haven’t totally doesn’t mean they can’t.
I manage a fleet of around 80 Apple iPhones at my work. I can bulk uninstall an app company-wide by removing the assignment of that app from a user group.
You could potentially block it by making sure the phone has no data connection and no WiFi so it can’t phone home, but that’d make the TikTok experience a bit less fun.
Apple and Google won’t delete the app from your phone, but they can stop making it available for download in the app store. That means once you delete the app or get a new phone, you will no longer have access to the app (unless you change your app store region to a country other than the US, but then you will lose access to all your US-only apps!)
In summary, banning it just means the app stores will no longer make it easy to download, and most people won’t have the technical knowledge or patience required to circumvent the ban.
Are people foegetting India banned TikTok and successfully prevented a large mobile userbase from accessing it quite successfully. TikTok was amongst one of hundreds of apps, websites and services banned due to Chinese links.
Interestingly, Instagram’s Reels launched in India right after TikTok was banned.
A situation somewhat analogous to this occurred with a ballistics app called “Strelok Pro”. The US determined that this application was being used by Russian forces in Ukraine, and the US sanctioned the author, Igor Vladimirovich Borisov.
What ended up happening was that he was slowly delisted from app stores as they got the news. Google and Apple took him down almost immediately; Amazon and Samsung took a bit longer, but also removed him. Huawei didn’t, but interestingly enough, still blocked users from US IP spaces from seeing or downloading the application.
The app still works, but if you get a new phone, you can’t download it anymore, and if it loses permissions on your phone, you cannot re-enable them. It is functionally stuck at the version you downloaded it at.
That said, Strelok Pro is an entirely offline app. The question is then whether you could still connect to TikTok’s servers with the old version. My gut feeling is that TikTok themselves would probably turn off access to US users out of fear of further sanctions or legal judgements.
You won’t be able to download it and it will quit receiving updates so eventually won’t work with their network anymore.
The app just cant be mass deleted from people’s phones
It definitly can and Play Store and App store do this all the time for malicious apps. For the average user, it could be a likely scenario.
Everyone is talking about the app itself and not being available via the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, but what about the website? Do people forget that tiktok-dot-com is also a way to view the platform? You don’t get some features, but they could replicate most of the viewing experience through the web. For content creators, there’d be an extra step where you’d have to use a different app for shooting and editing the video (does CapCut also get banned? It’s owned by TikTok IIRC) but then upload that file to publish to the platform.
Anyone else just think it’s bs. It won’t be banned
Like flappy bird. It will get delisted from play/apple store and it will stop receiving updates.