Where Are VPNs Restricted/Illegal? – Brilliant Maps

Egypt Currently
restricted 8/18/2018 Ongoing Egypt’s
President
signed
the
Anti-Cyber
and
Information
Technology
Crimes
legislation
into
law
on
August
18,
2018.

The
anti-cybercrime
law
gave
the
Egyptian
government
the
power
to
block
any
websites
it
deemed
to
be
a
threat
to
national
security
and
national
economy.

People
who
attempt
to
access
the
blocked
websites,
for
example
by
using
VPNs,
could
also
be
sentenced
to
1
year
in
jail
or
a
fine
of
up
to
EGP100,000.

Tanzania Currently
restricted 7/17/2020 Ongoing On
July
17,
2020,
a
new
set
of
Electronic
and
Postal
Communications
(Online
Content)
Regulations
were
passed.

As
per
one
of
the
regulations,
“a
person
shall
not
render,
possess
or
distribute
technology,
program,
application
or
any
other
related
thing
that
allows
or
helps
users
to
have
access
to
prohibited
content”,
meaning
the
use
of
VPN
technology
to
access
restricted
content
was
made
illegal.

The
regulations
include
ten
different
categories
of
prohibited
content.
The
definitions
received
a
lot
of
criticism
for
being
vague
and
overly
broad,
creating
space
for
censorship.

China Currently
restricted 1/22/2017 Ongoing In
January
of
2017,
China’s
Ministry
of
Industry
and
Information
Technology
(MIIT)
announced
a
more
than
a
year-long
campaign
to
overhaul
internet
access
services.
The
MIIT
issued
a
notice
on
January
22nd
making
it
unlawful
to
provide
circumvention
tools
without
the
ministry’s
pre-approval.

In
July
of
2017,
Apple
removed
674
VPNs
from
its
App
Store
in
China,
citing
compliance
with
government
regulations.

In
August
of
2017,
the
Cyberspace
Administration
of
China
(CAC)
ordered
five
websites,
including
shopping
giant
Alibaba,
to
remove
vendors
that
offered
access
to
VPNs.

India Currently
restricted 4/28/2022 Ongoing On
April
28,
2022,
India’s
cyber
agency
Computer
Emergency
Response
Team
(CERT-In)
issued
a
directive
saying
that
data
centers,
VPN,
VPS
and
Cloud
service
providers
operating
in
India
are
required
to
store
customer
logs
for
5
years.

In
June
of
2022,
the
Indian
government
barred
its
employees
from
using
third-party
VPN
and
anonymization
services.

Iran Currently
restricted 03/10/2013 Ongoing In
2013,
the
government
blocked
“illegal”
VPN
access
and
said
“only
legal
and
registered
VPNs
can
from
now
on
be
used”,
although
no
law
was
passed.

In
2017,
MTN
Irancell
announced
that
consumers
using
VPNs
will
not
receive
a
50%
discount
when
visiting
domestic
websites,
discouraging
VPN
use.

In
2020,
it
was
announced
that
the
CDICC
had
drafted
a
regulation
for
establishing
a
“legal
VPN”
scheme.
People
would
have
to
apply
to
purchase
VPNs
and
secure
approval
from
the
government
based
on
their
need,
with
factors
potentially
including
one’s
profession.

In
2022,
several
key
provisions
to
the
“Regulatory
System
for
Cyberspace
Services
Bill”
were
made.
If
passed
into
law,
control
over
key
communication
infrastructure
will
be
delegated
to
armed
forces
and
security
agencies.
One
of
the
bill’s
chapters,
in
practice,
would
lead
to
the
introduction
of
a
blanket
ban
against
all
international
services,
including
encrypted
communication
tools.
Access
to
services
provided
by
companies
that
do
not
comply
with
the
government’s
requirements
would
be
throttled
and
could
be
banned
from
operating
in
Iran.

Iraq Currently
restricted 6/15/2014 Ongoing During
the
war
with
IS,
the
government
disabled
the
internet
in
certain
regions,
blocked
social
media
websites,
and
instituted
restrictions
on
VPNs
as
part
of
their
defense
strategy:

“Due
to
the
current
national
security
concerns
and
the
exceptional
developing
situation
in
our
beloved
country,
the
national
security
advisory
board
has
decreed
the
following:
Firstly,
stopping
all
Internet
services
completely
and
absolutely
for
the
districts
of
Nineveh,
Al-Anbar,
Saladin,
Kirkuk,
Diyala.
Secondly,
stopping
all
access
to
Virtual
Private
Networks
(VPN)
in
all
of
Iraq
starting
at
4:00PM
and
until
7:00AM
daily.
Thirdly,
stopping
all
access
to
the
following
Internet
applications
in
all
of
Iraq:
Facebook,
YouTube,
WhatsApp,
Viber
and
Skype.”

While
it
is
still
technically
illegal
to
use
circumvention
tools,
the
ban
is
not
strongly
enforced.

Myanmar Currently
restricted 1/13/2022 Ongoing On
Jan
13,
2022,
Myanmar’s
military
junta
issued
a
draft
bill
that
would
ban
the
use
of
VPNs
and
punish
those
who
use
them
with
fines
and/or
a
jail
sentence.

Even
though
the
law
hasn’t
officially
been
passed
yet,
there
are
reports
of
junta
officials
already
using
it
to
check
people’s
phones
for
VPN
software.

Oman Currently
restricted 8/27/2010 Ongoing In
August,
2010,
Oman’s
Telecom
Regulation
Authority
(TRA)
made
a
call
for
Public
Consultation/Opinion
on
a
regulation
to
be
made
a
law
that
would
prohibit
the
use
of
VPNs.

The
proposed
law
imposed
a
fine
of
500
Omani
Rial
on
individuals
and
1,000
Omani
Rial
on
companies
without
the
proper
permit.

Note:
could
not
find
any
sources
confirming
the
law
had
been
passed.

Pakistan Currently
restricted 3/15/2010 Ongoing On
March
15,
2010,
the
Pakistan
Telecommunication
Authority
(PTA)
published
Monitoring
and
Reconciliation
of
Telephony
Traffic
Regulations
(MRITT).

In
August
of
2011,
the
PTA
sent
a
legal
notice
to
all
ISPs,
ordering
them
to
inform
authorities
if
any
of
their
customers
are
using
VPNs.
As
per
Freedom
House,
“the
mandate
was
never
properly
implemented”.

In
May
of
2014,
the
PTA
issued
a
notice
requiring
VPN
users
to
“apply
to
PTA
for
registration
of
their
VPN
connections
through
their
respective
service
providers”.
The
same
type
of
notices
were
again
issued
in
June
of
2020
and
September
of
2022.
As
per
Digital
Rights
Foundation,
the
PTA
claims
to
use
the
2010
MRITT
as
the
base
for
these
notices.

Turkey Currently
restricted 11/04/2016 Ongoing On
November
4th,
2016,
the
Information
and
Communication
Technologies
Authority
ordered
ISPs
to
block
Tor
and
several
VPN
providers.

Earlier
in
the
day,
the
government
had
already
blocked
various
social
media
and
online
communication
tools.

The
independent
monitoring
organization
TurkeyBlocks
had
also
reported
throttling
and
other
forms
of
censorship,
linking
the
disruptions
and
blocks
to
the
arrests
of
pro-Kurdish
party
leaders.

Turkmenistan Currently
restricted 12/01/2014 Ongoing A
new
law,
“On
legal
regulation
of
the
Internet
development
and
Internet
services
in
Turkmenistan”,
adopted
in
December
2014,
put
in
place
restrictive
regulations,
including
disproportionate
limitations
on
online
content
for
overly
broadly
defined
activities.

Note:
many
sources
list
2015
as
the
year
of
the
ban,
although
OSCE
listed
December,
2014.

While
the
use
of
anonymizing
technology
doesn’t
seem
to
have
been
addressed
directly,
sources
state
that
as
per
the
law,
“attempts
to
use
proxy
servers
and
VPN
are
detected
and
blocked;
their
users
are
subjected
to
administrative
penalties
and
summoned
for
“preventive
conversations”
to
the
Ministry
of
National
Security,
where
they
face
intimidation.”

There
are
reports
of
VPN
restrictions
having
intensified
in
2019,
2021
and
2022.

The
U.A.E. Currently
restricted 11/12/2012 Ongoing The
president
of
the
UAE
issued
a
decree
on
combating
cybercrimes
on
November
12,
2012,
and
an
amendment
for
it
in
2016.

While
the
2016
amendment
was
widely
reported
as
the
beginning
of
VPN
restrictions
in
the
UAE,
Kellie
Blyth,
a
UAE-based
lawyer
who
specialises
in
telecommunications,
media
and
commercial
laws,
clarified
the
situation
to
Gulf
News:

“The
legal
position
regarding
the
use
of
VPNs
in
the
UAE
has
not
changed.
It
was
and
remains
an
offence
to
use
VPN
to
commit
a
crime,
or
to
try
to
prevent
its
discovery
<…>
Previously,
the
potential
fines
ranged
from
Dh150,000
to
Dh500,000.
Now,
they
have
been
increased
to
any
amount
from
Dh500,000
to
Dh2
million.
This
is
in
addition
to
a
potential
custodial
sentence,
which
existed
previously”.

The
Telecommunications
and
Digital
Government
Regulatory
Authority
(TDRA)
supported
this
view
in
a
more
detailed
statement
which
said
the
law
wasn’t
new
in
its
essence,
and
that
the
only
changes
were
related
to
tightening
the
penalty
or
punishment
for
any
violation.

Belarus Currently
restricted 2/19/2015 Ongoing On
February
19th,
2015,
the
Communications
Ministry
published
a
decree
that
mandates
how
access
to
certain
online
resources
should
be
limited
by
Internet
providers
at
the
request
of
the
state.
Some
of
the
limitations
deal
directly
with
anonymizing
services:

“The
state
inspection,
upon
discovering
Internet
resources,
anonymizing
services
(proxy-servers,
anonymous
networks
like
Tor
and
others),
that
allow
Internet
users
to
access
online
resources
whose
identifiers
are
included
on
the
limited
access
list,
will
add
the
identifiers
of
these
Internet
resources
and
anonymizing
services
to
the
list
as
well.”

Russia Currently
restricted 11/01/2017 Ongoing On
November
1st,
2017,
a
law
prohibiting
technology
that
provides
anonymous
access
to
banned
websites
came
into
force.
The
law,
approved
by
the
Duma,
banned
the
use
of
VPNs
and
other
technologies,
known
as
anonymizers,
that
allow
people
to
surf
the
web
anonymously.

Not
much
had
been
done
to
enforce
the
law
until
March
28,
2019,
when
Russia’s
online
regulator,
Roskomnadzor,
said
it
had
written
to
10
popular
VPN
services
to
demand
they
connect
their
systems
to
the
watchdog’s
blacklist
of
banned
websites,
so
their
users
are
no
longer
able
to
view
the
forbidden
content.

They
were
given
30
days
in
which
to
do
so,
failing
which,
“Roskomnadzor
may
decide
to
restrict
access
to
the
VPN
service.”
Only
one
provider
–
Kaspersky
Lab
–
complied.

More
VPN
providers
were
blocked
in
2021.

Algeria No
evidence Angola No
evidence Benin No
evidence Botswana No
evidence Burkina
Faso No
evidence Burundi No
evidence Cameroon No
evidence Cabo
Verde No
evidence The
Central
African
Republic No
evidence Chad No
evidence Comoros No
evidence Congo No
evidence Ivory
Coast No
evidence Congo
DR No
evidence Djibouti No
evidence Equatorial
Guinea No
evidence Eswatini No
evidence Ethiopia No
evidence Gabon No
evidence Gambia No
evidence Ghana No
evidence Guinea No
evidence Guinea-Bissau No
evidence Kenya No
evidence Lesotho No
evidence Liberia No
evidence Libya No
evidence Madagascar No
evidence Malawi No
evidence Mali No
evidence Mauritania No
evidence Mauritius No
evidence Morocco No
evidence Mozambique No
evidence Namibia No
evidence Niger No
evidence Nigeria No
evidence Rwanda No
evidence South
Sudan No
evidence São
Tomé
and
Príncipe No
evidence Senegal No
evidence The
Seychelles No
evidence Sierra
Leone No
evidence Somalia No
evidence South
Africa No
evidence Togo No
evidence Tunisia No
evidence Zambia No
evidence Zimbabwe No
evidence Afghanistan No
evidence Armenia No
evidence Azerbaijan No
evidence Bangladesh No
evidence Bhutan No
evidence Brunei
Darussalam No
evidence Cambodia No
evidence Georgia No
evidence Hong
Kong No
evidence Israel No
evidence Japan No
evidence Kuwait No
evidence Kyrgyzstan No
evidence Laos No
evidence Lebanon No
evidence Malaysia No
evidence The
Maldives No
evidence Mongolia No
evidence Nepal No
evidence The
Philippines No
evidence Qatar No
evidence South
Korea No
evidence Singapore No
evidence Syria No
evidence Tajikistan No
evidence Timor-Leste No
evidence Taiwan No
evidence Vietnam No
evidence Yemen No
evidence Albania No
evidence Andorra No
evidence Austria No
evidence Belgium No
evidence Bosnia
and
Herzegovina No
evidence Bulgaria No
evidence Croatia No
evidence Cyprus No
evidence Czechia No
evidence Denmark No
evidence Estonia No
evidence Finland No
evidence France No
evidence Germany No
evidence Greece No
evidence Hungary No
evidence Iceland No
evidence Ireland No
evidence Italy No
evidence Latvia No
evidence Liechtenstein No
evidence Lithuania No
evidence Luxembourg No
evidence Malta No
evidence Monaco No
evidence Montenegro No
evidence The
Netherlands No
evidence North
Macedonia No
evidence Norway No
evidence Poland No
evidence Portugal No
evidence Moldova No
evidence Romania No
evidence San
Marino No
evidence Serbia No
evidence Slovakia No
evidence Slovenia No
evidence Spain No
evidence Sweden No
evidence Switzerland No
evidence Ukraine No
evidence The
U.K. No
evidence Antigua
and
Barbuda No
evidence Bahamas No
evidence Barbados No
evidence Belize No
evidence Canada No
evidence Costa
Rica No
evidence Dominica No
evidence The
Dominican
Republic No
evidence El
Salvador No
evidence Grenada No
evidence Guatemala No
evidence Haiti No
evidence Honduras No
evidence Jamaica No
evidence Mexico No
evidence Nicaragua No
evidence Panama No
evidence St.
Kitts
and
Nevis No
evidence St.
Lucia No
evidence St.
Vincent
and
the
Grenadines No
evidence Trinidad
and
Tobago No
evidence The
U.S. No
evidence Argentina No
evidence Bolivia No
evidence Brazil No
evidence Chile No
evidence Colombia No
evidence Ecuador No
evidence Guyana No
evidence Paraguay No
evidence Peru No
evidence Suriname No
evidence Uruguay No
evidence Australia No
evidence Fiji No
evidence Kiribati No
evidence The
Marshall
Islands No
evidence Micronesia No
evidence Nauru No
evidence New
Zealand No
evidence Palau No
evidence Papua
New
Guinea No
evidence Samoa No
evidence The
Solomon
Islands No
evidence Tonga No
evidence Tuvalu No
evidence Vanuatu No
evidence Eritrea Possible
restrictions
(not
enough
evidence) Unknown Unknown Eritrea
is
sometimes
referred
to
as
Africa’s
North
Korea.

State-run
Eritrea
Telecommunication
Services
Corporation
(EriTel)
is
the
sole
operator
of
both
landline
and
mobile
telephone
communication
infrastructure,
and
the
only
internet
service
provider.

Only
around
1.3%
of
the
population
uses
the
internet
(ITU,
2017).
The
internet
is
very
slow
(one
source
lists
1.7Mbps
in
2017),
and
there
is
no
mobile
internet
in
the
country.

Sudan Possible
restrictions
(not
enough
evidence) 04/01/2019 Unknown As
per
Freedom
House,
several
free
VPNs
became
inaccessible
in
April
of
2019
amid
social
media
blocks. Bahrain Possible
restrictions
(not
enough
evidence) Unknown Unknown As
per
Freedom
House,
“internet
freedom
in
Bahrain
remains
restricted”.

“The
government
restricts
the
use
of
many
VPNs
<…>
Access
to
websites
of
popular
VPNs
and
anonymity
services
like
Hotspot
Shield,
Express
VPN,
and
Tor
are
blocked,
which
makes
it
difficult
to
download
their
client
applications.
However,
the
connectivity
and
functioning
of
these
VPN
clients
and
Tor
browsers
remained
unaffected
during
the
coverage
period.”

No
sources
for
these
statements
are
provided
by
Freedom
House
or
could
be
found
online.

North
Korea Possible
restrictions
(not
enough
evidence) 01/01/2000 Ongoing North
Korea
has
its
own
intranet
(Kwangmyong)
which
opened
in
2000,
and
it
can
be
implied
that
resources
like
commercial
VPNs
are
not
accessible
through
it. Indonesia Possible
restrictions
(not
enough
evidence) 03/01/2017 Unknown On
July
7th,
2014,
the
Ministry
of
Communication
and
Information
Technology
(MCIT)
published
a
decree
under
which
Indonesian
ISPs
were
granted
the
authority
to
ban
“negative
content”
at
their
own
discretion.

As
per
Freedom
House,
an
OONI
report
which
covered
the
period
of
June
22nd,
2016,
to
March
1st,
2017,
found
that
“three
tools
offering
VPN
services
or
anonymous
browsing
were
subject
to
blocking”.

In
the
summer
of
2019,
a
representative
from
the
MCIT
was
cited
as
calling
for
regulations
for
licensing
VPNs,
although
it’s
still
not
clear
if,
or
when,
such
regulations
could
materialize.

Jordan Possible
restrictions
(not
enough
evidence) Unknown Unknown A
number
of
VPN
services
were
reportedly
inaccessible
two
times
during
2021
–
in
mid-March
when
Clubhouse
was
blocked
following
protests
over
an
oxygen
shortage
that
led
to
the
deaths
of
COVID-19
patients,
and
in
April
amid
a
localized
internet
shutdown
following
what
the
authorities
referred
to
as
a
coup
attempt.

As
per
Freedom
House,
“authorities
failed
to
provide
justification
for
these
restrictions.
Officially,
the
TRC
is
the
entity
responsible
for
issuing
blocking
orders
to
ISPs.
However,
the
TRC
has
stated
that
it
does
not
possess
the
authoritative
power
to
restrict
access
to
such
services
without
a
legal
order
<…>
there
had
been
no
previous
restrictions
on
VPNs
in
Jordan,
although
the
TRC
warned
against
their
use
in
2019”.

Kazakhstan Possible
restrictions
(not
enough
evidence) Unknown Unknown In
2017,
a
Deputy
Chairman
of
the
State
Control
Committee
was
quoted
as
saying:
“In
principle,
we
solved
the
problem
with
anonymizers,
but
again,
the
process
of
their
creation
is
constant,
as
and
detection
and
blocking.
To
some
extent,
this
is
a
fight
against
windmills.
The
task
of
countering
illegal
content
is
to
limit
the
average
Internet
user
from
the
risk
of
stumbling
upon
unwanted
information
by
accident”.

On
June
9th,
2019,
NetBlocks
reported
that
“VPN
services
were
also
blocked”
amid
internet
and
online
service
disruptions
on
the
day
of

presidential
elections.

As
per
Freedom
House,
“many
anonymizing
tools
are
blocked”
and
“the
authorities
have
confirmed
that
they
can
block
VPNs
using
court
decisions
or
orders
from
the
MISD”.
As
per
an
official
response
by
the
Ministry
of
Information
and
Social
Development
(MISD)
to
Freedom
House’s
information
request,
“in
2020,
the
regulator
blocked
148
circumvention
tools”.

Saudi
Arabia Possible
restrictions
(not
enough
evidence) Unknown Unknown As
per
Freedom
House,
“the
websites
of
many
circumvention
tools,
such
as
Tor
and
major
VPN
providers,
are
blocked
by
the
government”,
although
no
sources
are
provided
or
could
be
found
via
desk
research. Sri
Lanka Possible
restrictions
(not
enough
evidence) 04/01/2021 Unknown As
per
NetBlocks,
access
to
at
least
one
major
VPN
provider
was
restricted
on
April
22nd,
2019,
amid
social
media
restrictions,
following
a
series
of
scheduled
bombings
targeting
churches
and

hotels.

As
per
Freedom
House,
in
April
of
2021,
“state-owned
Sri
Lanka
Telecom
(SLT)
introduced
unlimited
data
packages
which
blocked
VPNs,
torrents,
peer-to-peer
(P2P)
applications,
and
messaging
app
Telegram
as
part
of
their
terms
and
conditions”.

Thailand Possible
restrictions
(not
enough
evidence) 2/20/2017 Unknown As
per
an
OONI
report,
the
website
of
at
least
one
VPN
provider
had
been
blocked
in
February
of
2017.

As
per
Freedom
House,
the
website
of
at
least
one
internet
circumvention
tool
had
been
blocked
in
February
of
2021.

Uzbekistan Possible
restrictions
(not
enough
evidence) 09/01/2019 Unknown As
per
Freedom
House,
“in
September
2019,
users
complained
that
several
VPN
services,
including

CyberGhost
VPN,
Express
VPN,
and

NordVPN
were
blocked
by
Uztelecom”. Cuba Possible
restrictions
(not
enough
evidence) 10/14/2020 11/18/2020 As
per
AccessNow,
“users
in
Cuba
have
indicated
that
they
have
not
been
able
to
access
Telegram
since
October
14,
2020,
and
also
some
neutral
private
networks
(VPN)”.
As
per
Freedom
House,
Telegram
and
several
popular
VPNs
were
inaccessible
for
“approximately
five
weeks”.

A
Cuban
programmer
cited
by
14ymedio
“explained
that
after
the
tests
he
has
carried
out
to
determine
why
the
VPNs
began
to
fail
in
October,
he
has
found
evidence
of
blocking
by
DPI
(deep
packet
inspection).
The
expert
also
verified
that
in
the
case
of
some
VPNs
that
were
much
more
complex
to
block,
the
Cuban
authorities’
alternative
was
to
prevent
access
to
pages
related
to
the
service
so
that
it
would
be
difficult
to
find
and
download
them.
This
was
the
case
with
one
of
the
most
popular
VPNs,
NordVPN,
as
he
explained.”

Venezuela Possible
restrictions
(not
enough
evidence) 2/15/2019 Ongoing According
to
user
reports,
and
as
reported
by
Freedom
House
and
Venezuelan
internet
watchdog
VE

Sin
Filtro,
several
VPN
providers
were
blocked
by
state-run
ISP
CANTV
and
some
other
major
ISPs
for
periods
of
time
between
2019-2022
amid
other
internet
restrictions
due
to
political
turmoil
in
the
country. Uganda Restricted
in
the
past 07/01/2018 07/01/2021 The
government
ordered
ISPs
to
start
blocking
VPNs
after
people
started
massively
using
the
technology
to
evade
the
social
media
(OTT)
tax
which
was
put
into
place
on
July
1st,
2018.

The
OTT
tax
was
replaced
by
a
general
internet
tax
on
July
1,
2021.

A
spokesperson
of
the
Uganda
Communications
Commission
(UCC)
has
been
cited
as
saying:
“Efforts
have
been
made”
to
demand
that
telecom
operators
block
VPN
use
in
Uganda.
But
while
some
were
indeed
blocked
for
the
most
part,
“It
had,”
he
said,
“not
been
successful.”

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Author: Brilliant Maps