VPNs, or virtual private networks, are essential security tools that boost your digital privacy, unblock geo-restricted content, and sidestep bans and surveillance. Unfortunately, however, VPNs are banned in some countries and made outright illegal in others for the same reasons.
Governments, workplaces, and educational institutions, among others, ban today’s best VPNs for all sorts of reasons. These range from silencing dissidents and anti-national elements to simpler reasons, like increasing productivity and minimizing distractions.
In this guide, I’ll dig into what VPN bans are and how they’re enforced, as well as where you’re likely to find them.
What are VPN bans?
VPN bans prevent folks from using VPNs in a particular place or country. The reason why VPN bans exist is to stop people from sidestepping censorship measures on certain websites and platforms, from hiding their online activity, or from circumventing other geo-restrictions or content blocks.
It’s worth noting that there are a lot of different bodies that can (and do) block VPNs. They do this for varying reasons, however, I’ll walk you through some of the common culprits behind VPN bans and their motivations.
1. Governments
Oppressive governments in countries like China, Russia, and Turkey, have strict control over the internet. They impose harsh country-wide internet censorship, ban popular communication platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook, and block access to independent international news and media, too. This is done to stop dissidents and force citizens into no-questions-asked obedience.
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One of the most recent examples of a ban in action is the Myanmar VPN ban, which has plunged the country into online darkness.
VPNs can play spoilsport for such authoritarian governments, as they allow users to hide their IP address (meaning authorities can’t track them) and sidestep geo-restrictions and censorship to access blocked platforms – and this is why governments block/restrict VPNs.
Wondering which countries have banned or restricted VPNs without making them illegal? Wonder no more:
- China
- Russia
- UAE
- Turkey
- Oman
- Uganda
- India
- Venezuela
- Egypt
- Saudi Arabia
If restricting/banning VPNs wasn’t bad enough, some countries have made it outright illegal to use a VPN. These include:
- Belarus
- Iraq
- North Korea
- Turkmenistan
- Iran
2. Workplaces
Workplaces ban VPNs for more practical (and less digital freedom-invasive) reasons than government bodies. Corporations usually have browsing filters in place to limit distractions and increase productivity – essentially, they want you to focus on your work.
This is why social media sites and streaming platforms are frequent targets of workplace blocks. However, since VPNs can be used to bypass these internal restrictions, workplaces ban them, too.
VPN bans play a part in workplace security, too, in the digital sense. Let’s say that someone in the company’s network is using a VPN and the connection becomes compromised by a cybercriminal. This can lead to data exfiltration and snooping, which could massively impact the company.
3. Schools, colleges, and universities
Educational institutions, like workplaces, ban VPNs to keep students focused on their work and prevent them from accessing inappropriate content, including streaming sites, social media apps, and IM platforms.
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VPN bans in educational settings also help authorities minimize cyberbullying and make sure that they’re compliant with copyright laws and licensing agreements.
In addition to the above, other bodies that ban VPNs include online streaming platforms (to make sure geographic content distribution and copyright laws are being adhered to) and financial institutions (to prevent unauthorized access and fraud).
How do VPN bans work?
It’s easy to figure out how an organization would ban, say, apples within its borders. However, VPNs are intangible items, so it might be hard to picture how they’re sniffed out and regulated. Essentially, there are two ways authorities around the world ban VPN usage.
- IP blocklists: the most straightforward way to ban VPNs is to collect a list of IP addresses used by a VPN and then add them to a network blocklist. Traditionally, however, an IP blocklist is defined as a list of IP addresses that are untrustworthy or outright malicious, which is why they’re banned from being accessed on a particular server or network.
- DPI: this tends to be used more by governments and organizations. Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) is a type of packet sniffing that attempts to find VPN traffic hidden in a user’s network. By analyzing the data that flows to and from your device and a server, it tries to match known VPN signatures and, if it does, will block VPN use.
Why are VPN bans an issue?
While VPNs are hugely popular as potent ways to unblock streaming sites and watch your favorite movies and TV shows from around the world, their unblocking capabilities go a long way in protecting people’s digital freedoms, too.
When oppressive governments, in a bid to stop citizens from raising their voices, resort to strict internet censorship and a blackout of independent news channels, VPNs can help folks fight against that.
Moreover, companies and data-sharing networks, including international surveillance groups, such as the Five-Eyes Alliance, have become more data-hungry. These bodies collect and store private user data, essentially killing people’s digital privacy. Then there’s the rising number of cyberattacks, too.
This makes using a secure VPN a no-brainer. They’ll mask your online activities, prevent snoopers from watching over your shoulders, and protect your personal information from falling into the wrong hands.
