Lawyers reveal 'penalty and punishment' for anyone trying to use TikTok loophole after US ban

As the clock ticks down to TikTok's final days in the US, a business litigator has warned Americans against trying to trick the system.

For those that don't know, US Congress passed a bipartisan bill in April last year to prohibit TikTok from providing its services in America unless its parent company ByteDance, of China, relinquished control over it by January 19, 2025.

When will TikTok be banned in the US?

Unfortunately, it doesn't look likely that TikTok will be sold and so as of Sunday (January 19) the app will be gradually frozen out of society in the US, with it being taken off the app store and updates will cease.

It comes on President Joe Biden's last day in office, with the US Justice Department claiming it poses 'a national-security threat of immense depth and scale' - due to concerns that the Chinese firm could be forced to hand over data of its approximate 170 million US users to the state.

So we now find ourselves in what could be the demise of TikTok in the US, and with it being by far the most popular app among teens and young adults in the nation, there will be people doing everything they can to find a workaround so they can continue to enjoy the app.

TikTok is just days away from its impending ban in the US (Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Although, the ban won't mean that the app mysteriously vanishes from your phone, but as I mentioned earlier it will be frozen out.

With so much speculation over what will happen, business litigator Neil Elan, of Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, has weighed in on the subject.

Risks of accessing TikTok illegally

Elan, who specializes in high-value intellectual property disputes, told Dexerto: If there is a law saying, ‘You can’t do this,’ and you do this by using a VPN to circumvent the law, then you are in violation of the law.

"There would be a penalty and punishment, likely fines. I wouldn’t recommend using a VPN to get around the law, although I do know that it is common. Whether the lawmakers turn a blind eye or whether it’s strictly enforced is a risk that the user will take."

Yes, we may just have to say fair well to TikTok in the States (Getty stock)

He continued: “The main concern is national security. If a few people do it, then are large troves of US consumer data being accessed by the Chinese government? Unlikely. But if there’s a growing base that continues to use it with the VPN, and the government knows about it, and those concerns still bloom, then there could be penalties enforced.

“How this plays out remains to be seen. It depends on the law. It depends on whether it will be acquired, and it depends on who has the authority to enforce the law and how many users try to skirt the law by using a VPN, but certainly the use of a VPN to circumvent the law would potentially render the user to fines and penalties.”

So, what will happen to the TikTok app on your phone if it gets banned?

After January 19, if you're in the US and haven't got the app already on your phone it's unlikely you'll be able to download it as it'll be pulled from stores like Google and Apple under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.

For those who have the app prior to the ban, it's expected that it will eventually 'go dark' as updates won't be issued anymore - which will cause it to become buggy and unusable.