In the aftermath, people in Mozambique are increasingly turning to VPN services to circumvent ongoing online restrictions deadly protests contesting the election results.
Authorities first disrupted mobile internet connections on October 25, when protests broke out across the country the day before. WhatsApp, Facebook, Facebook Messenger and Instagram everything went dark a few days after that, on October 31, making the use of a VPN necessary to continue using these platforms.
Proton VPN confirmed to Ny Breaking a spike of 127,830% during the day. “Usage continues to rise rapidly as internet access remains spotty,” David Peterson, General Manager at Proton VPN, told me. Other data suggests a VPN question increase of 2.072% until now.
These figures are nothing but surprising, as TikTok, Telegram and YouTube also joined the list of blocked platforms on November 4 – internet watchdog NetBlocks reported. As the tweet below shows, there are still curfew power outages as I write this.
⚠️ Update: Traffic data indicates #Mozambique is now in its second day of curfew-like mobile internet outages. The shutdown follows protests over disputed election results and is the latest in a series of mass censorship measures imposed by the government 📵 pic.twitter.com/gaT8mNvovINovember 5, 2024
This is the first time the East African country has restricted internet access since 2015, when Surfshark started tracking these incidents worldwide – the VPN provider told me. Yet this is far from the first time a government has resorted to a social media or internet blackout during political unrest.
Just last week, another East African country, Mauritius, forced one shutdown of social media ahead of general elections. The ban has now cancelleddespite it being expected to remain in place until November 11, 2024.
According to data from Surfshark, protests are one of the top causes of disruption on social media, with Facebook disrupted almost 40 times for this reason alone since 2015.
Proton has recorded spikes in VPN usage in at least 14 countries since January alone, with most of these incidents linked to internet restrictions imposed amid social unrest. These include Bangladesh in July, Kenya in late June, New Caledonia in May and Senegal in February.
“In times of political crisis, the answer is never to shut down the internet or block social media,” Peterson said. “It is an affront to people’s fundamental rights to freedom of information and freedom of communication, at a time when communication and impartial information are more important than ever.”
Why do people turn to VPNs to bypass online restrictions?
You may have heard of VPN (virtual private network) solutions as a way to be more private while browsing the web. You and your friends have probably tried using a streaming VPN to access foreign catalogs no matter where you are in the world. Likewise, a VPN can help you bypass other geo-restrictions, such as those currently in place on social media platforms in Mozambique.
This is because a VPN, while encrypting your Internet connections to prevent third-party snooping, also spoofs your real IP address location to trick your Internet Service Provider (ISP) into thinking you’re surfing from a completely different country in just a few clicks. .
Data shows that demand for VPNs has increased 2,072% year to date
Therefore, if you are currently in Mozambique, all you need to do is connect to a VPN server in a country where these platforms are still available to continue using all the major social media apps.
As mentioned earlier, many people in the country have already turned to these apps to bypass the restrictions. “Thirteen of the top fifteen apps in Mozambique’s Apple App Store are VPN apps, and the top nine apps in Mozambique’s Google Play Store are all VPNs,” Proton VPN’s Peterson can confirm.
It’s worth noting that a VPN won’t work during times of total online blackout, as you still need an internet connection to use this tool. In this case, you should try to access the Internet via a landline, as at the time of writing the authorities focus only on mobile connections.
I highly recommend checking out our guide to the best free VPN apps to download the most secure freebie around. Free services like the Tor Browser can also help you bypass internet censorship.