Global Access Boost: Proton VPN Enhances Censorship Avoidance Efforts in New Regions

Proton’s VPN service has quickly become one of the company’s most popular products, and with good reason. Not only is it secured with E2EE and a useful resource against internet censorship, but it’s also a really functional VPN. Now, Proton VPN is improving with a few safety-related improvements that will be useful, especially in a handful of countries.

Proton announced today that it will start offering free VPN servers in five countries that face censorship and election tampering. The move comes in response to a surge in internet shutdowns and questionable election practices globally.

The newly added countries—Syria, Jordan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, and Brazil—join a growing list of regions where Proton VPN is providing free access to combat censorship and protect fundamental human rights. Other countries that are part of this initiative include Venezuela, Pakistan, and Algeria, where there’s a history of election tampering, crimes against humanity, or both. This brings the total number of nations with free censorship-busting Proton VPN access to 21.

All of these countries had, or are due to have, elections this year. Proton wants to ensure everyone can stay connected, and can overcome censorship, throughout their electoral processes. This initiative leverages the company’s Smart Routing technology, allowing servers to virtually simulate IP addresses in restricted countries.

In addition, Proton VPN is launching Credential-less logins for Android, which Proton says caters to its userbase in developing nations. This feature eliminates the need for account creation, making the platform more easily accessible for those in need of censorship-bypassing tools. In theory, all you need to do is download the app and you can just get going straight away, as long as you’re using free servers—you’ll obviously still need an account for paid servers.

David Peterson, General Manager of Proton VPN, adds that “as authoritarian governments have stepped up their efforts to restrict freedom of their citizens, we have stepped up our efforts to defend those same freedoms with Proton VPN. Protecting free speech and fighting censorship is a daily battle and this initiative and the launch of Credential-less logins on Android is part of our long term commitment towards advancing freedom online.“ The move aligns with Proton’s continual investment in anti-censorship technologies, including Alternative Routing, VPN Accelerator, and Stealth Protocol.

If you want to check these changes out (although you’d need to live in one of these countries to take full advantage), make sure to update your app right now.

Source: Proton

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