Virtual private network services are a lifeline for those in mainland China who want to access banned websites, but as the domestic market suffers from tightening control, overseas providers are seeing their numbers rocket
I f China’s increasingly tightening internet control has any beneficiaries, it would be overseas virtual private network service providers.
Several such providers told This Week in Asia that their business has skyrocketed over the past few weeks, as more and more Chinese internet users are looking overseas for help to bypass government censors.
Virtual private network services, or VPNs, are a lifeline for those in China that want to surf freely in the cyber world. By rerouting internet traffic to other locations, a VPN allows its users to Google whatever they are interested in, tweet their opinions and also watch videos on YouTube – even though all of these websites are blocked in mainland China.
Since late last month, Golden Frog, which is located outside China and operates popular VPN tool VyprVPN, has seen the number of people signing up to its service increase by 65 per cent. It declined to reveal its total number of users.
NordVPN, another leading overseas VPN service provider, also reported a significant growth – the company now has six times more users from China, compared to a month ago.
Even VPNdada, a website which helps internet users in China find reliable VPN services, has seen growing web traffic over the past weeks.
“ [This] suggests there has been an increase in the number of Chinese people searching VPN alternatives, ” said a spokesman at VPNdada.
This comes at a time when Beijing has tightened control over the internet, with domestic VPN service providers being a primary target.
In June, GreenVPN became the latest popular provider to end its operation in mainland China because it received “a notice from regulatory departments” to do so, the company said in an online statement.
