Could your VPN get around the TikTok ban? What you need to know

The dreaded moment for lovers of #dancechallenges and #funnyvideos is one step closer to reality. In April, President Joe Biden signed a law that will effectively ban TikTok in the United States unless the Chinese-owned social media giant is sold within a year. TikTok responded last week by suing the U.S. government, arguing the law violates First Amendment rights.

As we wait for all the legal issues to resolve, now is a good time to stay two steps ahead, and ponder a fundamental question: If the ban does go into effect, could a VPN help you get around the new restrictions?

Much of the answer keys into the specific nature of the ban—namely, that app stores in the U.S. would ostensibly be forced to remove the TikTok app from their marketplaces. If that’s how the ban plays out, then theoretically a VPN should put you back in business, with the caveat that you’ll already need to have the TikTok app installed prior to the ban.

There’s a lot to unpack here, including what the law would require of TikTok, and how technically savvy users could respond. Read on for details. And if you’re looking for a VPN to make your digital life more more secure—or, who knows, preserve TikTok access—check out my rankings of the best VPNs.

How would a TikTok ban likely play out?

The short but frustrating answer is that no one knows exactly how a TikTok ban would be implemented. While the law was passed and signed by president Biden, the actual details are still being worked out.

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“It’s too early to tell yet how this ban might play out,” ExpressVPN Privacy Advocate Lauren Hendry Parsons told me. “With TikTok seeking to fight this in the courts, and the timeline of the new law not requiring action for nine to 12 months, it’s possible that we won’t know the concrete outcome of this latest legislation until late 2025 or beyond.”

Still, there is some precedent that gives us an idea as to how it all could transpire. Over email, Surfshark’s VPN Product Manager Justas Pukys wrote, “It’s difficult to predict how exactly the ban could take place, but it might be implemented in a similar manner as it was in 2020 when the U.S. Department of Commerce ordered Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores.”

In that ban, which was ultimately blocked in court, the U.S. Dept of Commerce sought to remove the TikTok app from app stores and restrict updated versions of the app from being downloaded by users who already had the apps installed.

Another example we can turn to is a 2020 ban on TikTok in India, which saw both Apple and Google remove the app from their app stores. After the ban, Indian users who already had TikTok installed on their devices encountered an error message stating the app was “complying with the Government of India’s directive.”

The difference between the India ban and this new U.S. ban is that TikTok never really challenged the Indian government. In contrast, it appears as if TikTok will fight the U.S. ban to the bitter end.