DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU LIVE AROUND THE WORLD, YOU MAY HAVE HAD YOUR ACCESS TO AN ARTICLE OR A CERTAIN WEBSITE RESTRICTED

WHETHER IT’S THE BAN ON TWITTER & VARIOUS MEDIA OUTLETS IN CHINA OR THE STATE OF MONTANA’S RECENT BAN ON TIKTOK…

CALL IT A NECESSARY EVIL OR FLAT OUT CENSORSHIP THERE’S A SIMPLE INTERNET TOOL MORE PEOPLE ARE USING TO SKIRT AROUND THOSE RESTRICTIONS AND IT’S CALLED A VPN – 

*I’M SURE YOU’VE SEEN THE ADS FOR IT AT SOME POINT BUT I ASSURE YOU THIS IS NOT SPONSORED* 

A VPN OR VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK IS A MECHANISM THAT SETS UP A BARRIER AROUND YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION ALLOWING YOU TO USE THE INTERNET PRIVATELY – AS SUCH IT CAN ALLOW YOU TO MODIFY YOUR GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION AS THOUGH YOU’RE SOMEWHERE ELSE LETTING YOU BYPASS COMMON RESTRICTIONS THAT ARE PLACED IN YOUR REGION – IT’S LONG BEEN USED AS A WORKAROUND FOR CENSORSHIP

EXHIBIT A IS TURKEY – WHERE TWITTER BEGAN BLOCKING CERTAIN CONTENT AHEAD OF THE COUNTRY’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS LAST MONTH  – TECHRADAR REPORTS THERE WAS A NOTABLE SPIKE IN USERS THERE USING VPNS AMID CENSORSHIP CONCERNS – AT ONE POINT A SINGLE VPN COMPANY SAID THEY SAW 44,000 DAILY SIGN UPS…

SPEAKING OF A CONTROLLED NARRATIVE – THE WASHINGTON POST REPORTS MILLIONS OF RUSSIANS HAVE ALSO TURNED TO VPNS AFTER RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES LAUNCHED A CRACKDOWN ON ANY MEDIA NOT TOWING THE OFFICIAL LINE ON RUSSIA’S OFFENSE – MORE THAN 1,000 INTERNET SITES ARE CURRENTLY RESTRICTED IN RUSSIA

PEOPLE IN PLACES LIKE CHINA AND IRAN AND HAVE ALSO USED VPNS TO ACCESS THE OUTSIDE WORLD THOUGH THERE HAVE BEEN SOME NOTABLE EFFORTS TO BAN THE USE OF THE TOOL OUTRIGHT

ACCORDING TO NORDVPN AT LEAST 13 COUNTRIES MAKE VPN’S ILLEGAL TO SOME DEGREE THOUGH ENFORCING IT IS NOT ALWAYS CLEAR CUT AND EVIDENTLY SOME USERS HAVE MANAGED TO SKIRT AROUND RESTRICTIONS

RIGHT NOW ABOUT A THIRD OF THE WORLD’S ROUGHLY 5 BILLION INTERNET USERS HAVE ADOPTED THE USE OF A VPN AND THAT FIGURE IS EXPECTED TO RISE