Despite an enormous surge in VPN usage across America following the news of the TikTok ban, it appears even the best VPN services aren't a surefire solution for millions of Americans trying to access the popular social media platform.
The message "Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now" will likely remain in the minds of the 170 million Americans affected for a little while yet. The Chinese video-sharing service enforced the block in the early hours of Sunday, January 19, 2025, not long after the ban-or-sell TikTok law expired. Many had anticipated the TikTok block would be circumventable using a virtual private network, however, this proved not to be the case.
While TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, began restoring the service on Sunday, questions remain. Why didn't the best VPNs do the trick? What's more, what might be a solution for Americans should this happen again?
VPNs and TikTok bans
A virtual private network (VPN) is security software that encrypts all your internet connections and masks your real IP address. The latter is a unique string of numbers that identifies your device on the internet, crucially including your location.
Connecting to a VPN server located outside the country you're in is generally an easy way to bypass online geo-restrictions. It tricks your internet service provider (ISP) into thinking you're browsing from somewhere else entirely.
This is why Americans downloaded VPNs by the dozen over the weekend of the TikTok ban. Proton VPN reported a 490% increase in US sign-ups during that time. NordVPN, too, experienced roughly eight times more new users than during a typical weekend, a company spokesperson told TechRadar.
Research by Top10VPN recorded an overall spike of 827% in VPN demand starting from the early hours of Sunday morning (local time). Experts at vpnMentor (see graph below) then registered a surge in demand starting from January 18, the day preceding the US TikTok ban. "The surge in demand hit its peak with a massive 1566% spike within minutes following the app's shutdown in the country," experts noted.
Spikes in VPN usage are very common after widespread social media bans.
In 2024 alone Proton VPN recorded 19 VPN spikes across 13 countries worldwide. Less than a month into 2025 and we've already seen VPN sign-ups skyrocketing in Venezuela as authorities blocked TikTok, Telegram, and other online resources.
So, why wasn't a VPN enough to bypass the US TikTok ban?
How the US TikTok ban was different
While it's unclear how the US TikTok ban has been implemented, it does appear to be more of the usual IP-based blockage. Many American TikTok users have complained that they were unable to access TikTok even when using a VPN provider.
"While I am just speculating, it would appear that they flagged accounts as being from the US based on SIM card details and literally shut them down," Simon Migliano, Head of Research at Top10VPN, told TechRadar.
Migliano explained that this meant that, no matter whether you were accessing TikTok from outside the US, if your phone had a US SIM, or if you had any US geolocation data associated with your account, you weren't able to access your account. This may also be why people could better access TikTok on a desktop rather than via mobile.
ok so vpn works ONLY IF you're on the tiktok website, not the app, and also you can't 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 social media bans lies in who's doing the block in the first place.
He said: "If blocks are implemented by apps themselves, they have more visibility over user accounts and can make decisions to block certain customers based on information that goes beyond a simple IP address."
After all, internet watchdog NetBlocks registered no indication of widespread network-level restrictions imposed by US internet providers, indicating that the block was purely because TikTok deactivated its own service in the US.
When Venezuela blocked TikTok, for example, the government actively blocked the TikTok domain across the country instead. VPNs, therefore, had no problems getting users around the ban.
How to access TikTok in the US
TikTok is slowly getting back online in the US, meaning you should soon be able to access the app as usual without the need to find a workaround. In case of further blocks, however, it's important to bear in mind that you need to take some extra steps.
Peterson from Proton recommends people use their VPN and sign up for TikTok from a different country.
He said: "For some users, if they registered a new account outside of the US, and re-uploaded their content, they were able to get around the ban in the US while using a VPN. For content consumers, this is a workaround that could be fairly easy to implement, not so for content creators."
To make things easier, you should also use the VPN on a computer or device that's not tied to a SIM card, whenever possible.
