Will a VPN work on the TikTok ban? Here’s everything you need to know
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By
Albert Bassili Published January 14, 2025 |
TikTok is one of the most popular apps on the planet, and unless you live under a rock, you’ve probably heard by now that it’s likely going to get banned in the United States. For the roughly 170 million monthly TikTok users in the US, the potential ban is disappointing news, to say the least. We’re happy to report that there’s still hope, though. If you already have the app on your phone, you can actually bypass the ban somewhat quite easily. In fact, the main way to do it is through the use of a VPN, and given how common VPNs are these days, you may already have a paid VPN subscription that you could potentially utilize. It’s also worth noting that while free VPN options exist, they may not work as well as paid VPNs, especially when it comes to country choices and speeds.
But let’s backtrack a bit – you’ve probably heard of virtual private networks before, what exactly do they do? In short, a VPN helps you protect your privacy by disguising your location, allowing you to change your apparent location and view websites in other countries as if you were a resident.
How does this play into the TikTok ban? Well, it works the same way as accessing geo-locked content on streaming services. Essentially, you just load up your VPN onto your phone or tablet and connect it to any country where TikTok isn’t banned, and that’s pretty much it. In fact, when India banned TikTok recently, that’s how many people got around the ban at the time, and the same applies to most app bans around the world and VPN usage.
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If you don’t have a VPN or are using a free service, then you may want to consider snagging a subscription to Surfshark, one of the most widely used VPNs on the market. Not only are speeds incredibly fast, but it also has a very wide selection of servers across the world, so you can pick the country that best fits your needs. Plus, depending on your needs and which plan you go for, you can get additional things like an antivirus and data leak checking to make sure your data hasn’t been compromised.
Not only that, but it also has great pricing. You can snag a 27-month subscription to its Surfshark One plan for $73 rather than the usual $485, which is a whopping 85% discount.
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