 "Ban on TikTok thrusts Apple, Google into US-China geopolitical fray")
TikTok creators are posting videos promoting ways to get around a looming shutdown of the app in the US, which could spell trouble for Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and other American tech companies required by law to enforce the ban or risk potentially billions in fines.
With less than two weeks to go before the ban kicks in, many influencers are recommending that users change their smartphone settings or get “virtual private networks” to make it appear as though they’re logging in from other countries, like Canada or the UK, where TikTok is permitted. Others are suggesting “sideloading,” the process of downloading TikTok from outside Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store, or using TikTok on a web browser instead.
Though some creators acknowledge that these technical workarounds may not ultimately work, many appear confident — even desperate — as they try to avoid losing all of their followers and a platform that nearly one in five American teens say they use “almost constantly.”
“If it gets banned, they will take it off the Play Store, they will take it off the App Store and they may ban the servers, but hypothetically, those are easy to work around,” a TikToker named Nicholas, who uses the handle @metaphysicalmister, told his 11,000 followers in a recent viral video watched almost 300,000 times. “This app is not going anywhere.”
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These how-to videos have together been viewed many millions of times, with some of the most popular ones having resurfaced from years prior, when TikTok faced a potential ban in 2020 under then-president Donald Trump or when TikTok CEO Shou Chew testified before Congress for the first time in 2023.
“I don’t think the US government understands that, like, if they ban TikTok, we’re still going to use it,” said one young TikToker named Michaela, who uses the handle @cuddleswopuddles, who posted a video in 2023 that has now been watched 2 million times. Millennials, Gen Z and older Gen Alphas grew up spending time online and learning to code, Michaela added, making them tech savvy enough to keep the app alive. “They will figure it out,” she said.
TikTok, Apple, Google and Oracle didn’t respond to requests for comment.
TikTok’s fate is in limbo after President Joe Biden signed a law to address national security concerns related to the popular video app. Critics fear that TikTok, which is owned by China-based parent ByteDance Ltd., could be used to gather sensitive data on Americans or sway public discourse in dangerous ways. The measure, overwhelmingly passed by Congress and enshrined as law in April, gave ByteDance nine months to strike a deal to sell TikTok — which the tech giant has said it refuses to do — or face a ban on Jan. 19.
The surge of how-to-circumvent-a-ban videos reflects a broader panic by American users that a service now central to their livelihoods might actually be going away.
Supreme Court
TikTok, ByteDance and creators have been fighting the law in court, but after several unsuccessful legal maneuvers, the Supreme Court unexpectedly agreed to hear their challenge to the law on Jan. 10. Unless the high court overturns the law, or delays its implementation, Apple and Google will be on the hook to remove TikTok from their US app stores just over a week later. Web hosting companies such as Oracle Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. must similarly stop hosting TikTok traffic in the cloud or on their servers in the US, a scenario that would thrust several leading American tech companies into the middle of a geopolitical war.
The law does not cite US firms by name, but says it would be unlawful for “an entity,” “marketplace” like a mobile app store, or “internet hosting services to enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating” of TikTok and other ByteDance products.
The tech giants have good reason to comply: Companies found violating the law could be subject to heavy fines determined by “multiplying $5,000 by the number of users,” according to the law. In a country where more than half the population is on TikTok — the company claims 170 million monthly users — penalties could quickly climb into the billions. The onus is also notably on those companies, not on “an individual user,” to follow the law.
“It is not illegal to access TikTok” as a citizen, said Alan Rozenshtein, an associate professor at University of Minnesota Law School, but it will be illegal for businesses such as Apple and Google to offer the TikTok app in the US and for Oracle to provide cloud hosting services.
Legal Concerns
Still, TikTok could see users or mom-and-pop businesses stay away out of fear that they may end up in legal hot water. “I will probably choose not to use a VPN mostly because I would not want to get in trouble,” creator Carlos Torres, who sells a card game on TikTok that helps people learn Spanish, told Bloomberg. “As a small business, we don’t have the support legally, so it’s best for us to be compliant, regardless of how much potential business we lose.”
Dani Morin, a creator and child safety advocate, said she doesn’t think switching the app’s location will help creators. TikTok in Canada, for example, doesn’t offer TikTok Shop or TikTok’s Creator Fund Program, she said, which are key to helping creators make money from the app.
But in cases where TikTok users do attempt workarounds like using VPNs or accessing TikTok through its website, experts are divided on whether tech companies, including internet service providers, would be held liable. It’s unclear if navigating to TikTok.com will even work, and if it does, whether that would be covered by the law.
Anupam Chander, a professor of law and technology at Georgetown Law, said he doesn’t believe the law covers internet service providers since those companies don’t provide marketplace or internet hosting services. “I think access to TikTok.com will continue, as long as they move the servers offshore,” Chander said.
But other experts believe the law does cover TikTok’s website and internet service providers. While broadband providers like Comcast Corp. or AT&T Inc. aren’t specifically targeted by the law, those providers could face liability if they become aware of people in the US accessing TikTok through the website, said Timothy Edgar, a lecturer at Harvard Law School. Edgar and Chander were among a group of law professors who filed amicus briefs in support of TikTok’s lawsuit.
Trump’s Plans
General uncertainty around the incoming administration is also complicating matters. President-elect Trump has urged the Supreme Court justices to pause the law and pledged he’d somehow thwart the ban once in office, making it unclear how strictly his team would even enforce it.
Even if the Supreme Court upholds the law, TikTok is pulled down by Apple and Google and cloud infrastructure gets turned off come Jan. 19, the app won’t instantly disappear off Americans’ phones. TikTokers, unable to install regular app updates and bug fixes, will instead see the platform and its features slowly start to deteriorate over time.
That alone could be enough to push content creators to ditch any workarounds and migrate elsewhere, causing a “downward spiral” that might gradually kill the app, said Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law.
“The TikTok ban doesn’t have to work perfectly for it to be fatal to the TikTok enterprise,” he said.