Why does the tiktok have a influence in the political circles?

TikTok is the most popular platform for creating & sharing short videos. Evolved from Musical.ly, TikTok is leading its competitors by a huge margin. The popularity of this app and content on it went so viral that even mainstream news channels started covering some of the viral videos. The userbase of TikTok has grown significantly during the lockdown. In fact, the app received 315 million downloads in the first quarter of 2020. Now, that’s huge and some might say that it is more than the population of quite a few countries too!

So, why does a video creating & sharing platform like TikTok is always on the news? Why do we keep hearing headlines like - “US army bans soldiers from using TikTok”, “TikTok bans political ads”, “India bans TikTok”, and many others? In this article, we will be talking about the influence of TikTok on politics and answer a few popular questions, starting from - Why did India and the US ban TikTok?

• Part 1: Why did India and the US ban Tiktok
• Part 2: Can the army soldiers still use the TikTok?
• Part 3: Can I use VPN to download TikToks?

Part 1: Why did India and the US ban Tiktok

TikTok was banned by the Indian Govt. and was given an ultimatum by the US govt. not very long ago. While the decision taken by both the US and Indian governments were simultaneous but the incidents that led to the ban of TikTok are entirely different.

Officially, India has banned more than 170 apps, including TikTok, PUBG, and WeChat. The statement given by the Indian govt., as a reason behind the ban of these apps, was - these apps “engaged in activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, the security of the state and public order.”

All of these apps were owned and run by Chinese companies but the official statement didn’t include the name of the country. This decision was taken amid border tension between Indian & China and reported clashes between both the armies.

Indian is the biggest market for most of these Chinese apps that were banned. Having said that, India’s digital advertising market is set to grow by 26% this year, and banning these apps would have an impact on China.

Now that you know why Indian banned TikTok, let’s know why the app was banned by the US govt. TikTok was given an ultimatum by President Trump who said that it will be banned on September 15 unless some US company buys the app.

In an interview, President Trump mentions his conversation with Satya Nadela - the CEO of Microsoft, saying: “ I don’t mind if, whether it’s Microsoft or somebody else — a big company, a secure company, a very American company — buy it.”

The common thing between the app’s ban by the Indian and US government is - they were banned because of security reasons. Indian govt. even claims that TikTok and other apps that were banned were stealing user’s data from people’s phones.

Having said that, TikTok has been accused of stealing users’ data and providing them to the Chinese govt, even before all of these!

Part 2: Can the army soldiers still use the TikTok?

The short answer is - No. The US army soldiers can use TikTok.

In this section, we will be addressing all the questions related to the army ban on TikTok such as - “is TikTok banned for military”, “did the military ban TikTok”, etc.

Way before the individual countries banned TikTok, the app was banned from US military phones back in Dec 2019. The app was “considered a cyber threat” as reported by Military.com. This move was made following talks that TikTok could be a national security threat and could be used to surveil or influence millions of Americans using the app.

Before this, the Navy asked soldiers to uninstall TikTok from their govt. issued devices and be mindful of the apps they install. The app was under scrutiny by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to check if the users’ data collected by TikTok was accessible to the Chinese govt.

Part 3: Can I use VPN to download TikToks?

After the ban, millions of TikTok fans and influencers are heartbroken. So, they obviously are looking for easy to access the app. So, yes! There are a few VPNs available in the market that can help you access TikTok.

This is where it becomes important to choose the right VPN to bypass the government’s ban of TikTok and access the app. If you use a powerful VPN, it will keep your data encrypted even so that your data service provider won’t be able to read it.

Besides this, if the app tries to access the IP details of your device, it will receive the IP details of the VPN server you are connected through. So, if you are worried about your privacy and you think Chines apps, especially TikTok, will track your location, they won’t. They will only see your server’s IP details.

Here are a few recommended VPNs you can use to access TikTok after the ban.

1. Express VPN

Express VPN is one of the most recommended VPNs available out there. It is paid but has separate apps both for Android as well as iOS. It has fast worldwide servers and helps you keep your privacy while accessing TikTok or any other banned apps.

2. CyberGost VPN

CyberGhost VPN works both for Android as well as iOS. It allows fast access to world-wide servers and also encrypts your user data. You can use it to bypass the ban on TikTok or any other apps. It’s also a paid VPN.

3. Surfshark

SurfShark is one of the cheapest and effective VPNs available out there. It allows you to connect through multiple servers simultaneously. Just like other VPNs listed above, it also protects your privacy while allowing you to access banned apps like TikTok.

If you are planning to use a VPN to access TikTok or any other apps, it is advised to go with the paid ones. A little investment can serve you in the long run without compromising the security of your data or your smartphones.

Conclusion

What do you think of the TikTok ban? We hope that this article helped you answer your questions related to headlines like “the US army bans soldiers from using TikTok”, “navy bans TikTok”, and such others.

Before we conclude, TikTok banned political advertising in October 2019 within the app saying that it doesn’t match the user experience it wants to offer through the app. Back then, addressing the headlines of “TikTok bans political ads”, Blake Chandlee (VP of TikTok) said that the entire nature of political ads was “is not something we believe fits the TikTok platform experience.”