VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, a service adopted by users when they're deprived of the services that users normally receive. Through the start of 2021 to date, there have been around 616 million VPN downloads from 85 different countries, the highest number noted yet, as highlighted by Atlasvpn in its Global VPN Adoption Index. It's only been half a year while last year, the whole year accounted for 277 million downloads only.
This surge could be brought about by various reasons. While some include hackers and governmental surveillance, a major reason is the restrictions placed by internet service providers. It isn't a wonder that the countries where VPN is most used majorly consists of Arab countries where prude and immoral or unethical content isn't allowed. Such illicit activities consist of watching porn hence these sites are usually banned. Furthermore, there are various regions where any controversial content targeting the government is also condemned hence not visible. Such situations call for the use of VPN to gain full access.
Moreover, in some regions internet isn't provided completely which yet adds another reason to use VPN. These also include geo-restrictions and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services where users are encouraged to use the phone over internet services like WhatsApp, Telegram, etc.
When governments, like the one in Oman, choose to monitor their citizen's conversations in order to pick out anything controversial, it is only natural that users would turn to VPN. It was also brought to light some time back that the government even goes as far as to bring people in for questioning based on their personal conversations when they're caught just bad-mouthing the government.
As for one of the largest tech hubs, India, the VPN usage was quite low some time back, amounting to 3% only. But last year it increased by a large margin which is explainable as users tend to grow by 24% annually in India as more people discover the wonders of the internet. Also, the government played a huge role in unconsciously encouraging the use of VPN by blocking out various services. For instance, the irregular ban of TikTok, often being the career of many in the country. Internet shutdowns are yet another reason to use VPN as India experienced the longest shutdown in some of its regions going on for 8 months last year. Although we are not sure of the reasons, it certainly gave rise to the use of VPN in those regions.
It is noted very often that the use of VPN is almost always encouraged due to the strict policies either placed by the ISP or the government. It pushes users to adopt ways they never should, like the use of VPN. This is especially harmful as it promotes and popularizes wrong stuff, content that is banned for a reason. For instance in Islamic countries, porn is banned however due to its deprivation, people become more intrigued hence the screening of such content in these countries is way higher than in any other.
VPN services are usually free of cost and are easily available everywhere. Although we hope users won't have to use it, it is remarkable to see the growth in the VPN stats.
Read next: Where can you get the best value mobile data in the world?
This surge could be brought about by various reasons. While some include hackers and governmental surveillance, a major reason is the restrictions placed by internet service providers. It isn't a wonder that the countries where VPN is most used majorly consists of Arab countries where prude and immoral or unethical content isn't allowed. Such illicit activities consist of watching porn hence these sites are usually banned. Furthermore, there are various regions where any controversial content targeting the government is also condemned hence not visible. Such situations call for the use of VPN to gain full access.
Moreover, in some regions internet isn't provided completely which yet adds another reason to use VPN. These also include geo-restrictions and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services where users are encouraged to use the phone over internet services like WhatsApp, Telegram, etc.
When governments, like the one in Oman, choose to monitor their citizen's conversations in order to pick out anything controversial, it is only natural that users would turn to VPN. It was also brought to light some time back that the government even goes as far as to bring people in for questioning based on their personal conversations when they're caught just bad-mouthing the government.
As for one of the largest tech hubs, India, the VPN usage was quite low some time back, amounting to 3% only. But last year it increased by a large margin which is explainable as users tend to grow by 24% annually in India as more people discover the wonders of the internet. Also, the government played a huge role in unconsciously encouraging the use of VPN by blocking out various services. For instance, the irregular ban of TikTok, often being the career of many in the country. Internet shutdowns are yet another reason to use VPN as India experienced the longest shutdown in some of its regions going on for 8 months last year. Although we are not sure of the reasons, it certainly gave rise to the use of VPN in those regions.
It is noted very often that the use of VPN is almost always encouraged due to the strict policies either placed by the ISP or the government. It pushes users to adopt ways they never should, like the use of VPN. This is especially harmful as it promotes and popularizes wrong stuff, content that is banned for a reason. For instance in Islamic countries, porn is banned however due to its deprivation, people become more intrigued hence the screening of such content in these countries is way higher than in any other.
VPN services are usually free of cost and are easily available everywhere. Although we hope users won't have to use it, it is remarkable to see the growth in the VPN stats.
Read next: Where can you get the best value mobile data in the world?
