Proton VPN Observatory (2024)

Sign ups to Proton VPN spiked following reports that X was to exit the country due to legal battles with a Brazillian judge over the platform’s responsibilities regarding content moderation.

The Venezuelan President announced on Thursday 8 the block of social media platform X for 10 days and called for a boycott of Whatsapp, after earlier saying social media was used to incite violence following the country's contested presidential election.

Turkey’s Information and Communication Technologies Authority, BTK, the national communications regulatory agency, blocked access to Instagram on Friday without stating the duration of the ban.

Presidential elections in Venezuela - protest in the country following the disputed presidential election held on July 28. Reported block of several media platforms and report of potential block of X (formerly Twitter) in the country.

Internet, mobile phone and TV broadcast services were cut off in Bangladesh amid anti-government protests. Authorities in the country have imposed a nationwide curfew, after further rioting in the capital Dhaka.

Ongoing public anger and nationwide demonstrations over the government’s plans to raise more than $2bn in new taxes.

Ongoing turmoil in the country since February 2021, after the Myanmar military overthrew a democratically elected government. The Myanmar military is battling to hold on to power amid protracted civil war.

State of emergency declared: France imposed a state of emergency, deployed troops and banned TikTok amid riots over electoral reform.

General elections: A new candidate  of the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) has been confirmed for the next presidential election in October. This decision has curtailed a crisis that could have emanated from the current President running for an unconstitutional third term.

Social media block: Kyrgyzstan appears to have blocked TikTok after the Central Asian country's security services called to restrict the social media app to "protect children", building censorship fears.

Brazil Supreme Court judge opens inquiry into Musk: A Supreme Court judge in Brazil ordered an investigation Sunday of Elon Musk after he criticized the magistrate and accused him of censorship for blocking social media accounts suspected of spreading disinformation. There is reportedly a fear of X being potentially shut down in Brazil.

Temporary Telegram block: Spain's High Court has ordered the suspension of messaging app Telegram's services in the country after media companies complained it was allowing users to upload their content without permission, according to a court source.

Presidential elections in Senegal - Police in Senegal cracked down on protests in the capital Dakar after the President announced the indefinite postponement of the presidential election initially scheduled for February 25. The government reportedly cut the signal of a private television channel broadcasting the protests.

Social media blackout - Complete social media blackout in the country resulting in nationwide internet outage. This incident marked the second time in recent months that internet services were disrupted during an online event planned by PTI.