You can now bypass censorship attempts and get high-speed access to DW websites from anywhere in the world for free by connecting to dedicated servers run by Proton VPN.

Deutsche Welle (DW) is Germany’s international news organization that provides accurate and independent coverage and analysis of events worldwide. While DW is state-funded, it’s governed by the Deutsche Welle Act, which is intended to keep it independent and free of government interference. 

DW is available in 32 languages, making it an invaluable news source, especially in countries where authoritarian governments censor objective reporting. These regimes often see DW as a threat and the governments of Turkey, Iran, and Russia have blocked DW’s TV channel and website.

In the fall of 2022, DW came to Proton to see if we could help them make their independent reporting available all around the world. Proton VPN is one of the most widely used VPNs when people need to bypass online censorship. We’ve become the VPN people turn to when all others are blocked. We view this as a vital part of our work to build a better internet.

That’s why we’re excited to announce that we’re partnering with DW to ensure that the people who need it most can access a credible and objective news source for free. Simply look for the specially-labeled DW servers in all our Free locations (United Sates, Japan, and Netherlands), or search for “news”.

Connecting to a DW server will provide you with direct, unlimited, high-speed access to the DW website, including all live streaming and video-on-demand content.

Fighting for a better internet

Internet censorship is unfortunately becoming commonplace, but we believe our partnership with DW, which is the first of its kind, is an effective way to fight back. Given DW’s work in the face of persistent internet blocks, our partnership is a natural extension of our work, even if it has no precedent. 

We believe we all have a responsibility to stand up and defend human rights, especially in places where they are under assault. Together, DW and Proton are dedicated to providing everyone with the ability to access the information they need. And because these servers function as VPN servers, they also protect DW’s readers from government surveillance. 

“We are very happy to be partnering with a company that is just as dedicated as we at DW are to protecting the online privacy of activists, journalists and others while providing them with free, unrestricted access to the open Internet,” said Guido Baumhauer, the Managing Director of Distribution, Marketing, and Technology at DW.

We’ve focused on turning Proton VPN into one of the most censorship-resistant VPNs currently available. Thanks to the support of the Proton community, we’ve been able to develop novel anti-censorship features, including:

• Smart Protocol — Detects attempts to block your VPN connection and automatically selects the VPN protocol and IP port that will bypass the block
• Alternative Routing — Bypasses advanced VPN block attempts by routing your connection over hard-to-trace third-party networks
• Stealth VPN protocol — Obfuscates your VPN connection to make it look like a standard internet connection

We hope that through this partnership, we can help DW deliver accurate news to people living behind the veil of state-imposed censorship.