The past year marked another challenging one for democracy and internet freedom. A notable trend was the increasing willingness of authoritarian governments to damage their own economies and the livelihoods of citizens by implementing total internet shutdowns.
Most notable, however, was the increasing threat to internet freedom in Western democracies by-and-large considered “free.” From age verification laws introduced without considering the full ramifications to social media restrictions, to DNS server blocks, access to a free and open internet is imperilled now more than ever.
As always, Proton VPN is at the forefront of this battle to protect privacy and free speech. More and more the world is relying on our services to defend themselves in this dramatic escalation the global war on internet freedom.
We’ve observed unprecedented surges in Proton VPN connections worldwide as people refuse to be silenced. As pressure mounted, citizens everywhere fought back, turning to privacy tools in record numbers to defeat censorship and reclaim their right to an open, uncensored internet. — David Peterson, Proton VPN’s General Manager.
In 2025, we observed spikes in Proton VPN signups in 62 countries. We define a spike as any sudden increase that surpasses 100% over the previous baseline. These upsurges included:
- 10 countries with at least one spike in signups of over 1,000%
- Six countries with at least one spike in signups of over 5,000%
- Four countries with at least one spike in signups of over 10,000%
In this report, we’ll analyze what made 2025 so remarkable. We’ll explore where pressures on free speech intensified and how regular people around the world pushed back. Using data from our observatory and global usage patterns, we’ll outline the forces now shaping online freedom — and what they might signal for the year ahead.
Most notable spikes and shutdowns in 2025
Spikes and shutdowns due to censorship and civil unrest
When political pressure rises, the internet is often the first casualty. Across multiple countries, governments responded to conflict and elections not with transparency, but with blackouts, throttling, and isolation from the global web. These incidents show how fragile digital access can be, and why tools that preserve connectivity matter now more than ever.
1. Iran
On June 18, as the Iran–Israel War escalated, Iran imposed a near-total internet blackout that lasted three days. The government severed international connections and blocked access to websites, social media, messaging services, and foreign VPN servers. Only Iran’s domestic intranet and government-approved services remained accessible.
Limited bandwidth returned on June 21, but networks remained heavily throttled for essential services only. Following a US-brokered ceasefire on June 24, normal (censored) internet access was restored. By June 26, Proton VPN signups surged 5,500% as Iranians looked for ways to access international news.
2. Tanzania
Tanzania’s October general election saw the two main opposition candidates barred from the ballot, sparking protests in several cities. Security forces responded with lethal force(nova janela), causing many deaths and injuries, and the government shut down the internet for five days. When service resumed, VPN signups increased by 2,000%.
3. Afghanistan
On September 29, citing “immorality”, the Taliban imposed a 24‑hour total internet blackout affecting roughly 30% of the population. The shutdown came after the regime began removing(nova janela) women‑authored books from universities and restricting girls’ education past age 12, prompting some women to turn to online learning.
Even after the blackout ended, access to Facebook, Instagram and X remained limited. Proton VPN signups jumped a staggering 35,000% as Afghans sought ways to connect abroad. Subsequent disruptions, including a separate blackout on October 14, have kept VPN demand high.
4. Papua New Guinea
On March 25, 2025, Papua New Guinea abruptly blocked Facebook(nova janela) access, claiming a “test” to curb misinformation, hate speech, pornography and other harmful content during in the event of a national emergency. Critics noted the timing coincided with Prime Minister James Marape’s testimony in a corruption trial, suggesting the move aimed to suppress real‑time news coverage and commentary.
Because Facebook is a key gateway to the wider internet for many PNG residents, Proton VPN signups spiked by over 14,000 % the same day.
See more top censorship moments for 2025
Spikes due to legal and regulatory changes
Internet control doesn’t always look like a shutdown. Increasingly, it comes wrapped in regulation. New laws that expand age verification and identity requirements can create pressure to hand over sensitive personal data just to access legal content. When trust in data handling erodes, users look for alternatives.
1. United Kingdom
The UK’s controversial Online Safety Act, which introduced new age-verification requiring all user generated content sites to verify the age of their users, came into force on July 25. In practice, this meant adults were increasingly asked to prove their identity, often by uploading government-issued ID or submitting biometric data, to access legal content.
Many people were reluctant to comply, especially in light of a number of high-profile data breaches that hit the headlines at around the same time. The Tea app data breach(nova janela) exposed particularly sensitive user information: 72,000 images, including 13,000 verification photos and images of government IDs, and was followed by further such incidents, including data leaks involving Discord(nova janela) and Mixpanel(nova janela).
Together, these events reinforced fears about how personal data is collected, stored, and protected by online services, and resulted in a notable 1200% increase in Proton VPN signups.
2. Spain
La Liga (Spain’s top soccer league) wanted to crack down on illegal streaming of matches. To do this, it obtained a court order allowing them to block IP addresses associated with piracy, which it promptly required multiple ISPs to do.
However, many of the blocked IP addresses belonged to Cloudflare, a global infrastructure provider. And because Cloudflare uses shared IP addresses, millions of legitimate websites share the same IP addresses as pirate sites. The result? Widespread over-blocking of millions of legitimate websites.
This remains an ongoing situation, resulting in consistent Proton VPN signup spikes throughout the year, notably in February (+110%) and October (+200%). Of particular note is that VPN usage surges occurred whenever the blocks were put in place, not just during matches. This strongly suggests that Spaniards are turning to VPNs simply to access the legitimate websites they usually frequent.
3. USA
In 2024, framing the measure as protection against “foreign adversary–controlled applications”, Congress passed legislation requiring TikTok to divest its US operations or face removal from app stores and US internet infrastructure.
On January 19, 2025, the TikTok app briefly stopped working(nova janela) for US users, and the app was removed from the Apple and Google app stores. The video editing tool, CapCut (developed by TikTok’s owners), also went down. During this time, we recorded a 520% increase in Proton VPN signups.
Within hours, however, the incoming Trump administration signed an executive order delaying enforcement, giving TikTok extra time to find a buyer and effectively pausing the ban multiple times through 2025.
Timeline of spikes
Signup spikes by region
Political instability in many sub-Saharan African countries, including Tanzania, Togo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan resulted in a notable increase in total internet shutdowns and Proton VPN signup spikes across the region.
Last year also saw a sizable increase in signups from Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern countries such as Türkiye, Myanmar, Cambodia, Iran, and Papua New Guinea, in response to social media restrictions (often implemented in response to civil unrest or with the aim of preventing it).
Perhaps the most interesting new development, though, was the number of spikes we witnessed in Western democracies such as the UK, US, Spain and France.
Proton VPN is at the forefront of the battle against censorship
Proton VPN provides key tools and services that allow people to access the free and open internet, no matter where they are. These include:
- 100% free VPN service with no data limits: Ensuring our service is available to those who need it the most is central to Proton’s mission.
- Alternative routing: If our software cannot connect directly to our servers, it routes your connection through third-party services (such as AWS) that are unlikely to be blocked.
- Stealth: Our WireGuard®-based obfuscated and DPI resistant VPN protocol is effective at defeating many forms of online censorship.
- Smart protocol: When the default VPN protocol is blocked, our apps automatically switch to different VPN protocols and ports to evade the block.
- Available from multiple sources: When access to our website is blocked, Proton VPN can be downloaded from third party sources such as Apple App Store(nova janela), Google Play(nova janela), Amazon app store(nova janela) and F-Droid(nova janela). It’s available as an APK, and all our open source apps are available to compile and download from GitHub(nova janela).
Of course, Proton VPN is always working on new ways to improve our anti-censorship capabilities. In 2025 we added:
Guest mode on iOS
This popular feature for Android is now available for iPhones. Just install the app and tap the Continue as guest button to defeat censorship and protect your privacy online.
More free server locations
We’ve expanded our selection of free server locations to 10 countries. You can now connect to free servers for the Netherlands, Japan, Romania, Poland, Norway, Switzerland, Singapore, Mexico, Canada, and the United States.
More server locations
We’ve also expanded the total number of server locations you can connect to with a paid Proton VPN plan. You can now defeat government efforts to censor international connections and access local content by connecting to 17,000+ VPN servers for 127 countries. Locations added in 2025 include Panama, Armenia, Mongolia, Laos, Brunei, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Cameroon, Guatemala, and Honduras.
More ways to buy Proton VPN
In addition to our long-standing support for direct payments via cash and Bitcoin, it is now possible to purchase paid Proton VPN plans using Monero, Litecoin, Ethereum, and more via partners.
Whatever 2026 brings, Proton VPN is ready
The trends that emerged in 2025 show no sign of slowing in 2026. Governments around the world are increasingly willing to restrict internet access as a first response to political pressure, civil unrest, or regulatory ambition. In authoritarian states, this has meant more frequent and more severe shutdowns, even at significant economic cost.
In democracies, the threat is subtler but no less real. Poorly designed laws, blunt enforcement tools, and private-sector compliance mechanisms are fragmenting access to the open internet in ways that were once considered unthinkable.
At the same time, 2025 made one thing clear: people adapt quickly. Whether facing total blackouts, social media bans, mandatory ID checks, or indiscriminate blocking of infrastructure providers, millions turned to Proton VPN not to break the law, but to stay informed, communicate freely, and access the services they rely on.
The growing number of large signup spikes in democratic countries suggests that circumvention tools are no longer used only at the margins of society. They are becoming a mainstream response to overreach, censorship, and loss of trust in how online access is governed.
As we move into 2026, the struggle over internet freedom is likely to intensify. More governments will test the limits of control, and more people will look for ways around it. Proton VPN will continue to invest in free access, stronger anti-censorship technology, and wider global availability, so that wherever restrictions appear, people have a reliable way to stay connected to the open internet. For example, we’re currently working on:
- A new VPN codebase: Will deliver best-in-class anti-censorship capabilities, enable Stealth support on Linux, power the next generation of Stealth, and lay the groundwork for post-quantum encryption.
- An improved Linux CLI: Our Linux command-line tool allows anyone to access the open internet using only the most basic hardware. We recently added a host of advanced configuration options, and will expand on these through 2026.
As we head into 2026, the 2025 data underscores a powerful truth: whenever censorship tightens its grip, from internet shutdowns to app blocks, people fight back by turning to VPNs in unprecedented numbers to protect their voices and access uncensored information. We remain deeply committed to this battle; our team will keep working tirelessly to innovate, roll out new anti-censorship features, and strengthen our tools so that users worldwide can defeat restrictions and reclaim their online freedom. Thanks to Proton VPN community, we will ensure privacy and an open internet prevail. — David Peterson.
Whatever challenges 2026 brings, the message from 2025 is clear: when internet access is threatened, people push back. And Proton VPN will be there to support them.
