Internet Freedom
DRC Internet Shutdown in Fizi Territory Hits One Month
An internet and mobile network shutdown in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has now stretched past one month, according to reporting covered in Techpoint Africa's Techpoint Digest. The bla...
Iran Admits Running a Multibillion-Toman VPN Black Market
For years, Iran's government has restricted access to global platforms, social media, and independent news sites, forcing millions of citizens to rely on VPNs and other circumvention tools just to rea...
Taiwan's First Internet Blackout Drill Cuts Off TikTok
On Thursday, Taiwan ran its first large-scale internet blackout drill, deliberately disrupting connectivity to see how the island would cope if China ever cut or damaged the undersea cables that carry...
#KeepItOn at 10: A Decade Fighting Internet Shutdowns
In 2026, Access Now's #KeepItOn coalition reaches a milestone few digital rights campaigns manage to hit: a full decade of continuous operation. Founded in 2016, the coalition set out with a deceptive...
eSafety FOI Docs Reveal Plan to Block VPN Workarounds
Documents obtained by The Guardian under Freedom of Information laws have revealed that Australia's eSafety Commissioner expects service providers to actively block VPNs and other workarounds that let...
South Korea's May 2026 Filter Law Sparks VPN Surge
On May 1, 2026, something changed for ordinary internet users across South Korea. Laptops opened to the same message: access denied. The cause was a new image filter law that had quietly moved from po...
#KeepItOn Coalition Presses Zambia on Election Internet Access
More than 370 organizations from 106 countries have joined together under the #KeepItOn coalition to send a direct appeal to Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema. Their message is simple but urgent: a...
Russia's April 2026 VPN Crackdown Disrupts Banks, Metro
Russia's ongoing effort to block virtual private networks has moved well past the theoretical stage. In early April 2026, new government-run internet filtering systems malfunctioned in a way that went...
Banned Chat App Outmaneuvers India's Internet Shutdown
When authorities in India moved to cut off internet access during the so-called Cockroach protests, the goal was straightforward: stop people from organizing, sharing information, and communicating in...
Fifth Circuit Keeps Texas SCOPE Act Blocked Over Privacy
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has affirmed a lower court injunction that keeps the central provision of Texas's House Bill 18, known as the SCOPE Act (Securing Children Online throug...