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“Even VPNs don’t lead to circumvention” in India, Gosain told WIRED.
In the first hours of the US ban, it was not clear exactly how feasible it will be to circumvent the restrictions for US accounts. It appeared that TikTok had taken a more extreme approach, removing every version of the app in the US – by deleting the versions of the TikTok app software that were meant to be downloaded and used by US users. . It also appeared that accounts linked to the US were blocked, regardless of IP address or SIM country information.
Running a VPN alone was definitely not enough to bypass the ban and get back into TikTok. But apparently using a non-US TikTok account after removing a SIM (or on a device without a US SIM card/US phone number) worked when combined with a VPN. Likewise, using a VPN with a desktop browser or Tor Browser was enough to get a non-US TikTok account to upload in the US early Sunday morning, although the desktop version of TikTok has always been much more limited. than its mobile app.
“TikTok inspects the source IP of network packets – if the source IP belongs to India, it drops the packets,” explains Gosain, of the restrictions in India. “In addition, the TikTok app takes the country information embedded in the SIM card, and if the country code is “IN”, it filters the network connection. When you remove the SIM card, the TikTok app does not fails to identify the Indian user 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 the India. That’s how we avoid the filter.
Virtual private network, or VPNIt works 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 from where you are physically located. For example, American TikTok users can use VPNs to pretend they are accessing the Internet from outside the United States. VPNs also prevent your Internet Service Provider (ISP) from seeing your browsing data, adding a potential extra layer of privacy. When you use a VPN, your ISP will only see connections to the VPN instead of having access to the detailed list of all the websites you visit.
As a result of these capabilities, VPNs are often used in attempts to circumvent 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.
Using a VPN comes with caveats, however. Some commercial VPNs record people’s browsing history, which essentially just shifts data collection from ISPs to VPN makers. This means that the data is no longer protected, and that law enforcement can ask a VPN provider in the same way that they ask questions of the ISP. As a result, choose a Free VPN is generally not a good idea– with some too 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 seems 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 way to get back into the app with a TikTok US account. But the restrictions can only be temporary anyway. In practice, there appears to be little appetite for a permanent ban in the United States. And, despite origin of the ideaPresident Trump has said in recent days that he don’t want the app to be banned.
“My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I have to have time to review the situation,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on friday “Stay tuned!”
