ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say

https://sopuli.xyz/post/11938361

ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say - Sopuli

So everyone here is probably like “please do it” but I do wonder how the general populace would react. Would people actually miss TikTok if it just disappeared?

I’m curious about the practicality. IP addresses only roughly correlate to geographic location. Are they going to geofence their app?

Obviously the app can be removed from the US app stores, but I doubt they can prevent sideloading or just using a VPN to get access to a different country’s app store. And what about all the devices that already have it installed? It’s not like it will auto-delete.

It won’t matter if there are ways to side load or circumvent, though. 99.9% of users will not be willing to be bothered with such things and the US market would effectively die for the app.
I would have thought the same if there wasn’t a counterexample right in front of me. We had some major social media blocked, and while there was a noticeable dropoff, they are nowhere near dead. Quite popular, in fact, including among children.