Senegal VPN usage remains high as the tool gets
People in Senegal are turning to VPN services en masse in their fight against a second wave of internet restrictions.
Proton VPN recorded a 2,800% increase in signups above normal levels, in fact through its VPN observatory since July 31, 2023. Internet access was restricted that day and TikTok was also blocked on August 2.
The move was intended as a means of limiting the spread of “hate messages” on social media – the country’s communications minister said in a statement: This is reported by Al Jazeera. This is because opposition leader Ousmane Sonko was formally charged with, among other things, inciting an uprising and criminal conspiracy.
β οΈ Update: Analysis of connectivity in #Senegal shows the country has entered a 6th day of curfew-style mobile internet shutdowns amid reports that opposition leader Ousmane Sonko’s lawyer, Frenchman Juan Branco, has now also been detained π΅π° https://t.co/uYO2Zhzq5T pic.twitter.com/U0TN3RHTgSAugust 5, 2023
This was the second time in the past three months that Senegal’s internet went down amid political unrest β once considered the best democracy in all of West Africa.
Authorities cut off all mobile internet and access to the most popular social media in June amid protests over Sonko’s sentence of two years in prison on charges of “juvenile corruption.” A sentence that many citizens see as the latest ploy to prevent him from running for the next elections in February 2024. At least at that time 24 people died390 were injured and more than 500 were detained during the clashes.
After six days of curfew-style closures, mobile connections are gone reported to have been recovered on Saturday, August 5. Still, the use of virtual private network (VPN) and similar location-spoofing software remains high in the region as such tools become “a vital piece of infrastructure” for Senegalese to maintain access to the open web.
Senegalese VPNs peak
βThe use of Proton VPN has increased significantly in Senegal in recent months,β Antonio Cesarano, Head of Product at Proton VPN, told TechRadar.
βWe saw two spikes last week, one following the restriction of internet access by Senegalese authorities in response to violent protests following the arrest of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, followed quickly by a second spike after TikTok was blocked.β
At the time of writing, the 2,800% spike in VPN downloads is still increasing, Cesarano explains, as people look for alternative ways to bypass internet censorship.
Despite not being useful in the event of a total internet blackout, VPNs are the best way to bypass geo-restrictions and keep access to blocked apps and censored content. That’s because the software works by spoofing your IP addresses so that in seconds it looks like you’re browsing from a completely different country. Better still, the software also encrypts all data leaving your device for better security and privacy online, helping you protect yourself from oppressive governments while unblocking global news and media.
The latest surge in Senegalese VPN usage followed a significant spike in VPN logins across the country in June, when authorities blocked people from accessing popular social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and YouTube. However, the cyber revolution continued as VPNs helped citizens break through the thick blanket of censorship that plagued Senegalese social media.
Unfortunately, such spikes in VPN usage are common today as authorities tighten up on the open internet. Proton saw similar trends appear in Ethiopia, Turkey and Pakistan this year alone.
“What’s interesting is that in countries that have a track record of online censorship, people are starting to anticipate that and sign up for VPNs ahead of potential online blockages,” Cesarano said. This happened, for example, in Turkey during the last presidential election, when people feared a blackout of information. A trend was now echoing throughout Senegal.
β(In June) we saw a 100,000% increase in logins, and since then we have seen increased usage. That means when the most recent internet blocks came into effect, there was already a high user base due to previous censorship,β explained Cesarano out.
βFor people in Senegal, VPNs now appear to be an essential part of the infrastructure that allows them to access the free internet in the face of government censorship.β
