Despite a huge increase in VPN usage across America following the announcement of the TikTok ban, it appears that even the best VPN services are not a foolproof solution for the millions of Americans trying to ‘access the popular social media platform.
The message “Sorry, TikTok is not available at the moment” will probably stick in the minds of the 170 million Americans affected for a while longer. The Chinese video sharing service implemented the block in the early hours of Sunday, January 19, 2025, shortly after the law banning or selling TikTok expired. Many predicted that the blocking of TikTok could be bypassed using a virtual private network, but this did not turn out to be the case.
Even though TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, began restoring service on Sunday, questions remain. Why didn’t the best TikTok VPNs do the trick? What’s more, what could be the solution for Americans if this happens again?
VPN and TikTok bans
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is security software that encrypts all your Internet connections and hides your real IP address. The latter is a unique string of numbers that identifies your device on the Internet, including your location.
Connecting to a VPN server outside of the country you’re in is usually an easy way to bypass geo-restrictions online. This tricks your Internet Service Provider (ISP) into thinking you’re browsing from a completely different location.
That’s why Americans downloaded VPNs by the dozens during the TikTok ban weekend. Proton VPN reported a 490% increase in US signups during this period. NordVPN also saw about eight times more new users than a typical weekend, a company spokesperson told TechRadar.
Research by Top10VPN recorded an overall 827% increase in VPN demand from the early hours of Sunday morning (local time). Experts at vpnMentor (see graph below) then recorded a sharp increase in demand from January 18, the day before the US ban on TikTok. “The increase in demand reached its peak with a massive spike of 1,566% within minutes of the app shutting down in the country,” the experts noted.
Spikes in VPN usage are very common after widespread social media bans.
In 2024 alone, Proton VPN recorded 19 VPN peaks in 13 countries around the world. Less than a month into 2025, we’ve already seen VPN signups skyrocket in Venezuela as authorities block TikTok, Telegram, and other online resources.
So why wasn’t a VPN enough to bypass the US ban on TikTok?
How the US ban on TikTok was different
While it’s unclear how the US ban on TikTok was implemented, it appears to be more of the usual IP-based blocking. Many US TikTok users have complained about not being able to access TikTok even when using a VPN provider.
“While I’m only speculating, it looks like they flagged the accounts as being from the US based on the SIM card details and literally shut them down,” said Simon Migliano, head of research at Top10VPN, at TechRadar.
Migliano explained that this means that regardless of whether you access TikTok from outside the United States, whether your phone has a US SIM card, or whether you have US geolocation data associated with your account, you will not could not access your account. This may also be why people might better access TikTok on desktop rather than mobile.
ok so the VPN ONLY works IF you are on the tiktok website, not the app, nor can you be logged into an American account lol pic.twitter.com/3oscHut46eJanuary 19, 2025
According to David Peterson, general manager of Proton VPN, the difference with similar bans on social networks is who does the blocking in the first place.
He said: “If blocks are implemented by the apps themselves, they have more visibility into user accounts and can make decisions to block certain customers based on information that goes beyond. beyond a simple IP address. »
After all, internet watchdog NetBlocks recorded no indication of widespread network-level restrictions imposed by US internet providers, saying the blockage was only because TikTok had disabled its own service to UNITED STATES.
When Venezuela blocked TikTok, for example, the government actively blocked the TikTok domain throughout the country. VPNs therefore had no problem circumventing the ban.
How to access TikTok in the United States
TikTok is slowly coming back online in the United States, which means you should soon be able to access the app as usual without needing to find a workaround. However, in the event of additional blockages, it is important to keep in mind that you need to take additional measures.
Proton’s Peterson recommends people use their VPN and sign up for TikTok from another country.
He said: “For some users, if they registered a new account outside the US and re-uploaded their content, they could bypass the US ban while still using a VPN. For content consumers, this is a workaround. This might be pretty easy to implement, but it’s not for content creators.
To make things easier, you should also use the VPN on a computer or device that is not tied to a SIM card, if possible.
