Will the TikTok Ban Affect China: Here’s a Detailed Analysis

You might already know that over the last few months, TikTok has been under scrutiny in a few countries. While it has been banned in India (which was one of its biggest markets), even the US has put a preliminary hold on the app. This has got a lot of people thinking will the TikTok ban affect China or not. Well, let’s quickly consider how the TikTok ban will affect China from every perspective right here.

• Part 1: Which Countries are placing a Ban on TikTok?
• Part 2: How will the TikTok Ban Affect China?
• Part 3: Possible Ways to Access TikTok after the Ban?

Part 1: Which Countries are placing a Ban on TikTok?

To understand the TikTok ban effect on China, it is important to know in which countries the app has been restricted.

India

Earlier in June 2020, India imposed a strict ban on the download of TikTok and removed it from the Indian Play/App Store. Since India had around 200 million active users in TikTok, the ban took away the biggest market of the app.

The United States of America

Amidst the ongoing tension between the countries and some security concerns, the USA has also banned the app in September 2020. Therefore, people in the US can no longer install TikTok from the App or Play Store.

Other Countries

In 2018, Indonesia put a preliminary ban on TikTok that was lifted after a week. Also, in 2018, the app faced a ban in Bangladesh. As of now, a few other countries like Japan and the UK are also considering banning TikTok.

In most of the countries, the ban has been related to political tensions or about the security concerns of its users. In countries like Indian and the US, thousands of TikTok influencers rely on the app to earn a living. For instance, the ban of TikTok in India has led to a loss of $15 million by its influencers. Also, it is one of the most popular social apps in India since users spend the maximum time on TikTok (compared to other platforms).

Needless to say, this has disappointed a lot of its existing users who can’t access TikTok anymore in their countries.

Part 2: How will the TikTok Ban Affect China?

Since TikTok has been banned in countries like India and the US, it has certainly affected the previous global dominance of the app. ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, witnessed a sudden decline in its shares and overall revenue after the ban. It has been estimated that ByteDance lost around $6 billion after the collective ban of the app.

Although $6 billion is a substantial amount of money, it hasn’t affected China much. Since China is one of the biggest economies in the world with a GDP of $29 trillion, $6 billion is just a drop in the ocean.

Although, the TikTok ban’s effect on China might not be much financially, it did affect its homegrown tech scene. For years, China has built a firewall to restrict other tech companies that led to the growth of its in-home giants like Tencent or Alibaba. Today, a company like Alibaba has a global presence and is one of the biggest competitors to Amazon.

Just like that, TikTok has also been one of the biggest apps from China that became a global sensation in no time. Therefore, its recent ban has affected the tech scene in the country with several firms reworking on their policies to avoid such restrictions in the coming days.

Part 3: Possible Ways to Access TikTok after the Ban?

By now, you would be able to understand how the TikTok ban will affect China. Mostly, it is the faithful users of the app that would be affected by the TikTok ban. Therefore, if you still want to access TikTok after the ban, then you can try the following ways.

• Wait for the ban to be lifted

In most of the countries, there is only a preliminary ban on TikTok. That’s why a few home-grown companies are planning to buy the regional operations of the app. For instance, Oracle might acquire the North American vertical of TikTok while Reliance Communications can merge with the Indian TikTok app. Once these mergers are done, the TikTok ban might be lifted.

• Download TikTok from other sources

In countries like the USA, only the TikTok app has been removed from the App and Play Store. This doesn’t mean that you can’t install TikTok on your phone. Ideally, you can get it from any third-party source like APKmirror, Aptoide, or APKpure. For this, you just need to go to your Android phone’s Settings > Security and enable the app installation feature from unknown sources.

After that, you can go to these third-party app sources and directly download TikTok on your device.

• Revoke permissions for the TikTok app

If you are lucky, then this simple trick would help you move past the TikTok ban in your country. All you need to do is go to the App Settings on your device and simply select TikTok. Now, view the permissions given to TikTok on your device and just revoke the provided access from here. After that, restart your device and try to access TikTok again.

• Use a VPN app

Lastly, if nothing else seems to work, then you can simply use a virtual private network to change the IP address of our device. You can launch any reliable VPN and change your location to another country where TikTok is still active. Some of the commonly used VPN apps that you can try are from Nord, Express, Hola, CyberGhost, TunnelBear, Super, and Turbo.

I’m sure that after reading this post, you would know how the TikTok ban will affect China. Since TikTok is actively used by millions of people worldwide, its ban in countries like India and the US has disappointed many. You can wait for the ban to be lifted or try any other third-party solution to still access TikTok and move past the ban.