As an additional data point I am an American physically in Singapore. I was not able to use the app. I was able to use the website and create a new account with my Gmail
I was immediately locked out.
I’m traveling in Italy right now and can’t access tiktok. I think they might just be banning every account made in the US or on phones from the US?. My boyfriend, who is from Asia, can access his account fine.
My TikTok is not available, yet I’m from Europe and have never been in the US since I started using this phone or even TikTok. I did receive mostly US content because of my interests but still… wth?? 
Give the ToS a gander, especially the parts involving permissions. Last I checked, using the app/service consents to them knowing your SSID and monitoring your network as far in as they can reach. That’s quite enough for them to search you up. Other apps are shady too, no doubt. But, as far as I know, none of them are nearly as intentionally and needlessly invasive about it (they usually go the social engineering route, like Reddit). Spyware gonna spyware, and all that
which browser are you using? tiktok is fingerprinting you and yes its possible to fingerprint even if you use VPN and private mode
Probably their dns resolvers, IP address, ads, geo locators, malware and more
I believe they know even if you’re using vpn, i mean… when im testing my anonymity online, the web can detect that my IP doesn’t match with my other data.
Well, unless you’re using super secure internet just like all those anon guy
Does nobody think this proves the point that it’s illegally harvesting data and doing it poorly? Tik Tok is an evil Chinese government owned company that should go away
I develop mobile apps with cross platform tech so I can’t speak to the specifics on either iOS or Google specifically, but there’s API’s that let me capture user’s location via geolocation. It’s why even with a VPN some devices still detect where you are accurately.
There are a couple possibilities. It is a platform accused of going to remarkable lengths to track people and having the support of a foreign military power (and one that is arguably the gold standard when it comes to monitoring and tracking citizens.)
If account was created in the US, it may have that or some other bit of login/identity attached to it, or fingerprinted as such. They risk a lot more by non-compliance than a heavy-handed approach.
The system may send EN_US as the language code, but that would probably not be the case since there are other EN language jurisdictions. Some German law, at least at one point, in theory applied to German language content anywhere.(NetzDG). The US has many global assets in nearly every country (military sites), so it is at least possible for a person to blur those lines essentially anywhere.
Was the app installed using an AppleID created in the US (downloaded from the US App Store even if not currently set to the US)?
Weird question. Have you tried uninstalling the app, turning on the VPN, and then installing the app while the VPN is on?
It’s likely just an account ban, but can you get around that by installing the app “in” a friendly nation?
I saw another thread on this sub speculating that the ban had been linked to the SIM card. I don’t know how true that is.
Yes. This should tell you all you need to know about this company and their apps. Also it should remind you that adblocking dns and vpn is doing next to nothing. You are still you and you are still the product. It’s not really a technological question, you are youreself and you behave like you.
Your App Store/Google Play region that your account used to download TikTok
General geolocation using IP address
Your SIM card
Your account region is set upon you creating the account.
Update, I uninstalled the app and the website seems to work now.
The error message I kept getting was “your Internet signal is unstable”.
Because it checks if you signed up from a US ip address
From what I read it uses sim card to determine your location.
its going down for Canadians too
It is likely that the US software version is now blacklisted so regardless of whatever vpn you use, it still reports that you are using the US version. This is probably how it tailors the regional algorithm as well. Your user accounts would also point your origins out.
You would need to either use another regional app package or block whatever is providing your app data to the TIKTOK servers.
Has to be something integrated to your phone for sure I feel it. That and if the account was American too. Because I used a vpn on my pc and got into the browser site. Was able to scroll all I wanted. But signing into my account wouldn’t work. I tried making a new account through a google voice but it didn’t work. Using my phone number didn’t work, or even a new gmail didn’t work because it said the birthday wasn’t valid.
Tbh i’m wondering the same thing because i’m a US citizen but i haven’t been in the US for 5 months now and my app is still banned 