Teenagers think they have already found a way to keep using TikTok even if Trump bans it

Donald Trump has announced that he is looking to ban the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok in the United States over security concerns.

Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Friday, the president said:

As far as TikTok is concerned we're banning them from the United States.

Trump has said he could use emergency economic powers to enforce the ban as early as Saturday and also added that he wasn't a fan of the video sharing app being brought by a US company, this was after Microsoft was rumored to be interested in buying TikTok.

The president's mistrust in TikTok seems based purely on the fact that it is a Chinese company and he doesn't like it having such a big presence in his country but his animosity towards the app has coincided with it developing a large anti-Trump identity.

In the past few months, it has been reported that teenagers on the app were mobilising each other to sabotage his re-election campaign by leaving his apps bad reviews or requesting tickets to his rallies without actually showing up. 

Others have pointed towards the popularity of comedian Sarah Cooper who has become a viral sensation in the past few months by imitating the president on the app with hilarious results.

Some have suggested that Trump should be concentrating his efforts on more important things, while others are imagining how teenagers will take their revenge out on the president.

Some have suggested that even if Trump successfully bans TikTok in the United States that users could still use the app with a VPN (virtual private network) or by changing their location on their mobile device.

Whether these methods would actually allow users in the US to continue using the app remains to be seen. TikTok has already been banned in India, where there have been mixed reports about the success of using VPNs for TikTok. The Indian Express reports that although the app is no longer available on the App store or Google Play those that already have the app downloaded can still use it.