TikTok will become impossible to access via an American internet connection. It probably will remain possible to access from an American location, though. The rub is a virtual private network, which sets up an encrypted tunnel for internet browsing and can run it through practically any country.

The popular video app went dark in the United States late Saturday and then came back around noon on Sunday, even as a law banning it took effect.

The app had more than 170 million monthly users in the U.S. The black-out is the result of a law forcing the service offline unless it sheds its ties to ByteDance, its China-based parent company.

President Trump has signed an executive order granting TikTok a 75-day extension to comply with a law that requires a sale or ban of the platform. He says during that time, the US will not enforce the law passed by Congress last year and signed by former President Joe Biden.