More than 100,000 Americans have used “sideloading” to circumvent the TikTok ban

Before TikTok’s Android and iOS apps were restored in the United States, users found a workaround that sidestepped the government ban — and the app itself is promoting the loophole. Sideloading platforms like Signulous have seen usage spikes since TikTok was removed from American app stores last month.

Sideloading is the practice through which users circumvent app restrictions by signing up for software developer accounts. That process presents additional security risks, so platforms like Signulous guide users through sideloading in exchange for an annual fee.

Signulous exec Neil Pomperleau told The BBC that 120,000 people have used the platform to access TikTok in the United States. Though Donald Trump is trying to negiotiate a deal that would divest TikTok rather than banning it outright, Apple and Google are required to comply with the law that took effect one day before Trump’s inauguration. In response, Signulous is getting thousands of downloads per hour and sideloading TikTok onto American iPhones.

TikTok is well aware of sideloading platforms and is encouraging Americans to make use of the workarounds available to them. A tweet from an official TikTok account promoted Android Package Kits, which are used in the sideloading process.

But before you click on that sideloading how-to, consider that the practice has been subject to regulations in the past, and if the TikTok ban remains in place, authorities in Washington could come after the legally hazy sideloading apps next. That sort of escalation would resemble the crackdown on ad blockers: Platforms have taken a harder line on extensions that get past “unskippable” breaks.

“The law on the books is that TikTok is not allowed to be distributed in the US but we’re sort of operating on this pinky swear from two different US presidents that they won’t enforce this law,” Pomperleau told The BBC. “I imagine Google and Apple are a little too risk-averse for their size and the whole situation’s really unpredictable.”

But platform-level resistance to ad blockers shows us why federal action against sideloaders is unlikely to stick. Whether through a third-party download or a VPN, TikTok fans will find ways to get their fingers back on the For You Page. It’s one reason why the divest-or-ban law was flawed from the start, and the rise of sideloading is merely a symptom of a larger issue.