TikTok could bypass US blockade by making a PWA
blog.lukaszolejnik.com
blog.lukaszolejnik.com
From TikToks perspective, they may want the hard decouple so their users pressure their representatives. If they make a pwa or some other means to subvert the ban available it could undermine peoples desire to act.
They have a web-app, IDK if it works as the equivalent of a PWA or not, however it would likely mean all sorts of legal hurdles not just for the advertisers and the payees of that advert money (creators). Attempts to subvert that would just be fuel to push for heightened AML/KYC regs.
> If they make a pwa or some other means to subvert the ban available it could undermine peoples desire to act.
To your point, making a PWA would be the worst idea at the moment; all the hurdles of advertising dollars in and paying content creators out still exist, but the user base (if you're gonna put pressure you want numbers) will likely just think 'oh here is a workaround' and just live with it. [0]
On the other hand, it's perhaps a gambit's bluff; By that I mean, a PWA is probably far less 'intrusive' than your typical installed app, and could be a way to push back against the claims of it being used for 'surveillance'. [1]
[0] - I mean, Reddit's mobile app is trash but they try to force you to use it anyway...
[1] - I'm willing to accept this as a possibility but I'd need more proof than the bit of anecdata I have that they are more malevolent than FB/Alpha/etc to change my overall position, will admit some of that response is because some of those companies have had US tendrils involved for a long time...
X/twitter pretty ok.
If a government really wanted to block internet access to a service provider, they'd block access to their servers, on all ports. The workaround would be a VPN, not a web interface.
The US has this strange banning-but-not-really, because really banning it would be prohibited by the constitution's first amendment.