TikTok could bypass US blockade by making a PWA

App stores being a useful tool of state control (vis a vis the open web) does make one wonder if it factors into the government pursuing them as an abuse of market competition.

Funny is that even with the executive order to not enforce the law for now, it puts Apple and Google in legal limbo if they don't remove the app. They are the ones that will have to pay huge fines, not TikTok.

Aren't CDNs also going to be liable if they serve TikTok content?

I think what this misses is that TikTok will lose the ability to pay content creators. It may also cause legal repercussions for advertisers who want to spend on the platform.

From TikToks perspective, they may want the hard decouple so their users pressure their representatives. If they make a pwa or some other means to subvert the ban available it could undermine peoples desire to act.

They already have a mobile web interface, that anyone can crate a shortcut to. It'll work fine as-is, with or without a 'PWA' buzzword.

If a government really wanted to block internet access to a service provider, they'd block access to their servers, on all ports. The workaround would be a VPN, not a web interface.

The US has this strange banning-but-not-really, because really banning it would be prohibited by the constitution's first amendment.

My experience with PWAs is… not great. What are the best and/or most popular PWAs?

They took my porn in Texas an now this wtf