Title asks it all. “Banning” TikTok – is that at all possible? I understand they can make it hard for folks to get the TikTok app by coercing companies to remove the app from the app stores, but that’s simply a minor inconvenience I would think – I can’t imagine anything can be removed from the internet, access prohibited, etc. What am I missing here?
In: Technology
They can ban the app you can disable access to their servers. You can still use VPN and side load the app (downloading it from somewhere instead of using the official storefront). The question is if it will remain popular enough if you put such technical barriers in place.
Personally I think TikTok is cancer but there will be a replacement. If the main concern is China itself rather then the content then I guess it helps.
Block at the DNS server. By that, no device can access the Tiktok server whitout using a vpn.
And granted, very few people know how to use a vpn, or switch to a different DNS.
By that, tiktok will fast loose popularity and by that, loose even more user.
For most people, removing an app from the store is more than a minor inconvenience. Think you’re somewhat overestimating the average person’s tech savviness. And as a social media site, tiktok relies on being popular. It doesn’t work if only people who know how to side load apks are using it.
They can ban the app from doing business in the US. Freeze its bank accounts and the app stores would stop serving it because it’s not making them money.
They can’t ban it, they can just make it hard to access or monetizem
Which is probably enough.
Stop Play & App store from publishing it for download on US-based carriers, black-hole it via DNS, and incentivize the Verizons and T-Mobiles of the country to disallow traffic to it. This would be a major inconvenience for users.
…which is, IMO, what they should be doing for servers used by cybercrime groups attacking companies and people the US… but the main problem is these tactics are *highly subject to overreach and/or misinterpretation*. Plus, we have plenty of our own companies that suck up data they shouldn’t collect (e.g., Google, Meta).
So they won’t ban it, they’ll just talk about it, make it a bullet point about relations with China, and move on to the election.
One thing that everyone seems to have forgotten is that when you use a VPN, the content on your feed is located on the VPN server. By banning TikTok servers in the US, it practically means that there will be no feed tailored to the US landscape anymore. For example, if you use TikTok from the US and then travel to Japan, almost 90% of your feed will consist of content from Japan, which you may not understand. Consequently, you might eventually stop using TikTok because it’s not personalized enough.
I think the most they can do is ban it from government owned devices and equipment attaching to private government networks. ie government provid phones and laptops.
Geo fence – force software developers to disable the app.
If you have ever passed from Ireland into Northern Ireland you’ll know geo fencing can be VERY precise.
It doesn’t matter now. The damage is far from done already. If an app can topple an entire modern empire then it’s time to redesign the country.
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