Is this just a distribution ban or will US actually block the app at net/protocol? I have never used the thingie but this ban business motivated me to download it the other day.

Give it a try. It's weird, fun, educational, stupid. It's whatever you make of it. Is it also whatever China wants you to make of it? Maybe. But they could do the same thing with news, TV, or movies.

The most essential advice I can give to any new user of TikTok is to be EXTREMELY liberal with the "long press > not interested" feature. The default FYP ("For you page", the algorithmic feed) is initially tuned towards the average teen, with lots of garbage (pranks, half-dressed women, and assorted other trashy content). The algo is pretty good at picking up what keeps your attention, so be careful what you give your attention to.

If you tune it right, there's a lot of good content on there, though.

The crux of TikTok's success is that you don't have to "game the algorithm" like in other apps, and it's quite resilient even if you try. It seems to know what's an organic signal and what's an artificial signal.

Most other short-form content recommendation algorithms overfit like crazy (ahem Instagram ahem), and many users trying to bend it a certain way mess it up.

The law doesn't authorize blocking access to servers outside the US.

(to the respondents to my op): thanks!

What about iphone?

They're free to host their website which iPhones can access from CCP headquarters too.

Heck, they could post their IPA or source code if they wanted. This law isn't what prevents users from sideloading.

Even if you have source code or IPA, it needs regular refresh of 7 days, which is too much inconvenient.

does that mean that it could be used to basically block any app made by the Chinese?

I believe so. It's called "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act" not "TikTok Ban Act", so it can be applied to apps like WeChat as well.