I just wonder if the source of the problem are these "App stores" of the world.

If I could just download these apps like I download software for linux, it would be very difficult for the govt to enforce anything like this.

Tik-tok banned in India too and by ban it merely meant that the govt. forced Google / Apple to remove it from the play store. There is complete ban on torrent / porn sites in India but that doesn't stop anyone from visiting those either.

I think this is just one more argument against these central repos that are aiding censorship and political propagandas.