In the wake of sudden oppressive censorship, citizens flood to VPN services so they can unblock restricted platforms, apps, sites, news, and content. Because of this, popular cybersecurity company Proton has launched a new site to monitor those usage spikes to act as an alarm bell when sudden censorship takes place.
It's been quite a while since the internet stopped being the open and free space we all knew and loved. Authorities worldwide are increasingly imposing full or partial internet shutdowns in times of crisis or geopolitical conflict. In 2022 alone, the web went dark 187 times across 35 countries—an all-time high for internet shutdowns that 2023 will likely beat.
