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.