Netizens are worried as they believe the TikTok Ban Bill in the US will also affect VPNs. Many of them have taken to Twitter and other social media platforms to confirm the consequences of the TikTok ban bill and whether or not it will affect VPNs. Below we have gathered all the details about whether or not the TikTok ban bill will affect VPNs and what experts have to say about this matter.
TikTok users in the US are worried as the app is getting banned in the US. It has come as a consequence of the RESTRICT Act that was presented in the US Senate on the 7th of March. The act aims at protecting national security from applications that could have connections to other countries. The bill doesn’t only apply to TikTok but many other social media platforms that are potentially posing threat to national security.
As per the digital experts, the language used in this bill is broad. The bill is further raising concerns about implications if it were to go ahead.
Users of TikTok are worried as they believe the bill will affect them greatly. They also have an opinion that the bill might also impact the use of VPNs. However, legislation authors have claimed that the TikTok ban bill does not affect VPNs at all.
Will TikTok Work Using VPNs After Ban?
The TikTok ban bill also known as RESTRICT Act or The Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act, aims to “limit national security risks by allowing the Department of Commerce to review, block, and mitigate transactions involving foreign information and communications technology (ICT) that pose undue risk.”
It applies to all the digital apps that belong to “foreign adversaries” of the US including China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela. The popular video-sharing app TikTok is owned by China so, the bill will also have a great impact on it.
The bill further gives the government authority to scrutinize any type of technology that is being used by more than 1 million people in the country.
As the bill has become the talk of the town, users are concerned about their TikTok handles. They have rushed to other social media handles to find the opinion of digital experts about the potential effects of this ban on TikTok.
Affect Of TikTok Ban Bill On VPNs
Digital experts have raised concerns over the chances of VPN services being interrupted following certain sections of the restriction act that reads, “designed or intended to evade or circumvent the application of this Act.”
The bill further explains that users might face heavy penalties or imprisonment in case of any criminal act. The criminal penalties include a fine of up to $1 million and/or imprisonment of up to 20 years.
Discussing this restriction bill Willmary Escoto, US policy analyst for digital rights organization Access Now said, “The RESTRICT Act is a concerning distraction with insanely broad language that raises serious human and civil rights concerns”.
Rachel Cohen who is among the co-sponsors of the bill stated, “This legislation is aimed squarely at companies like Kaspersky, Huawei, and TikTok that create systemic risks to the United States’ national security—not at individual users.”
She further added, “The threshold for a criminal penalty in this bill is incredibly high—too high to ever be concerned with the actions of someone like an individual user of TikTok or a VPN.”
You may also want to read about Why Is TikTok Shadowbanning Content?
The Bottom Line
This was all the available information about whether or not will the TikTok ban bill affect VPNs. Hopefully, you have found all the details you were looking for.