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Comment by randomfinn | Hacker News Reader

> What's he going to do when ByteDance uploads the .apk somewhere?

I don't think most Android users know how to install an apk, and as far as I know a similar distribution model is not possible on iOS.

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Fortnite was a widely successful mobile application for a long time, distributed outside of the app store and with the same audience as TikTok - it's not as hard as it would seem to teach people to sideload.

It wouldn’t matter. To make it effective the FCC would likely ask all the ISPs and Carriers to block TikTok IPs at the network level.

Have US ISPs ever been asked/told to block IPs (or even DNS) before? I don't think it's something the FCC could do, especially since they've abdicated most of their authority over the internet to the FTC. Even still, I doubt they have the authority to do it or the means to impose penalties for noncompliance.

Even if they could - what is a TikTok IP? I'm confident their US endpoints are AWS or Google Cloud - good luck blocking those.

I’m pretty sure that at TikTok level you need operate with a VPC and have your own range of IPs.

Also ISPs and Mobile Carriers have their own blocking and network redirection methods, like url filtering with transparent proxies, that are used to re-lane traffic based on bandwidth usage. a.k.a putting Netflix on the slow lane

I don't think the FCC will move that fast to do something this drastic but I could be wrong. This whole move will likely anger a lot of people and feel authoritarian because they aren't use to the government censoring the media they consume.

FCC is completely aligned with this administration policies. I think they would totally act fast if asked.

Teens would be able to figure it out within minutes. It’s not difficult, it just isn’t required knowledge for most users (yet?)

I know for iOS you can change the location of your account and have access to download apps outside the US. I wonder if Tik Tok users will do this and download/use the app anyways

Which VPN company is public traded? ;)

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