VPN usage in Afghanistan has spiked significantly following government-imposed restrictions on social media.
One of the data-analytics-id=”inline-link” href=”https://www.tomsguide.com/best-picks/best-vpn” data-before-rewrite-localise=”https://www.tomsguide.com/best-picks/best-vpn”>best VPNs, data-analytics-id=”inline-link” href=”https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/protonvpn-review” data-before-rewrite-localise=”https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/protonvpn-review”>Proton VPN, indicated a usage increase of 35,000% over the baseline, citing data recorded by the data-analytics-id=”inline-link” href=”https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=25&aff_id=1046&source=tomsguide&aff_click_id=tomsguide-us-1067382925081446334&url=https%3A%2F%2Fprotonvpn.com%2Finternet-censorship-observatory%3FvisitorId%3Dho-%7Btransaction_id%7D%26aid%3D%7Baffiliate_id%7D%26offer_id%3D%7Boffer_id%7D%26url_id%3D%7Boffer_url_id%7D%26utm_campaign%3Dww-all-2a-vpn-gro_aff-g_acq-partners_program%26utm_medium%3Dlink%26utm_source%3Daid-tune-%7Baffiliate_id%7D%26utm_content%3D%7Boffer_id%7D%26hfp%3Dfalse%26spl%3D%7Baffiliate_id%7D&aff_sub2=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomsguide.com%2Fcomputing%2Fvpns%2Fafghanistans-social-media-ban-sees-vpn-usage-soar-by-35-000-percent” target=”_blank” rel=”sponsored noopener” data-url=”https://protonvpn.com/internet-censorship-observatory” referrerpolicy=”no-referrer-when-downgrade” data-hl-processed=”hawklinks” data-placeholder-url=”https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=25&aff_id=1046&source=tomsguide&aff_click_id=hawk-custom-tracking&url=https%3A%2F%2Fprotonvpn.com%2Finternet-censorship-observatory%3FvisitorId%3Dho-%7Btransaction_id%7D%26aid%3D%7Baffiliate_id%7D%26offer_id%3D%7Boffer_id%7D%26url_id%3D%7Boffer_url_id%7D%26utm_campaign%3Dww-all-2a-vpn-gro_aff-g_acq-partners_program%26utm_medium%3Dlink%26utm_source%3Daid-tune-%7Baffiliate_id%7D%26utm_content%3D%7Boffer_id%7D%26hfp%3Dfalse%26spl%3D%7Baffiliate_id%7D&aff_sub2=hawk-article-url” data-google-interstitial=”false” data-merchant-name=”Proton VPN” data-merchant-id=”208252″ data-merchant-network=”HasOffersProtonVPN” data-merchant-url=”protonvpn.com”>Proton VPN Observatory.
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This rise took place between October 6-7, 2025, approximately a week after a total internet shutdown occurred – something VPNs could not help bypass.
While there is no indication that the ban has been lifted, it is another blatant example of data-analytics-id=”inline-link” href=”https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/vpns/4-8-billion-people-affected-by-internet-censorship-in-2024″ data-before-rewrite-localise=”https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/vpns/4-8-billion-people-affected-by-internet-censorship-in-2024″>internet…
