From the team:
Hi everyone,
This year, over 60 countries — home to half of the world’s population — will hold national elections. As we’ve seen time and time again, VPNs have repeatedly proven effective anti-censorship tools, allowing people to find trustworthy news sources and access obstructed content.
To ensure people can access accurate information before they cast their vote, we will provide free Proton VPN servers in countries with a history of censorship or political interference in the weeks leading up to the elections:
https://protonvpn.com/blog/free-servers-before-elections
The selected servers will be switched from paid to free for the election period.
List of countries holding elections this year where Proton VPN will provide free servers:
- Pakistan (Free servers already available)
- Turkey
- Togo
- Chad
- Mauritania
- Rwanda
- Mozambique
- Somaliland
- Mauritius
- Senegal
- Algeria
- South Sudan
- Venezuela
- Sri Lanka
List of countries that already held elections and where Proton VPN provided free servers:
- Cambodia
- Indonesia
Since we launched Proton VPN Observatory, we have documented spikes in Proton VPN signups in real-time, making it an effective measurement of anti-censorship activity in response to various crises worldwide.
We believe this, along with expanding our server infrastructure to include over 3,600 servers in 85 countries, will help improve the accessibility to an unrestricted, free Internet globally.
Thank you for your support,
The Proton Team
Mainly out of genuine interest: Do you apply specific criteria when selecting which countries to host free servers in? (That you’re willing to share, obviously)
I imagine it might not always be a case of evidence of prior cases of politically motivated interference. Some countries may face concerns about possibly starting that trend due to current leadership. In which case, what signals would you look for? (Again, only if willing to share)