"We want to make some noise" - Advocates are stepping in to defend VPNs, and they need your help

• On September 25, advocates are calling people worldwide to sign a petition to defend VPNs
• Defend VPNs Day of Action is an initiative created by Fight for the Future and supported by some major VPN providers
• The VPN blocking debate has been growing across the UK and the US, with Michigan proposing a complete ban

VPNs are a crucial tool for promoting a safe and free internet everywhere across the world. Yet, their usage has never been at greater risk. An advocacy group has decided to rise to their defense – and it needs your help.

Thursday, September 25, 2025, marks the Defend VPNs Day of Action, an initiative organized by Fight for the Future in response to a growing debate on VPN blocking.

Previously a prerogative of more authoritarian nations, such as China, Iran, and Russia, democratic governments have increasingly begun to consider banning VPNs altogether.

In the wake of mandatory age verification in the UK, downloads for the best VPN apps skyrocketed as Brits sought ways to avoid sharing their most sensitive information while continuing to use numerous online services. This has led politicians to question whether or not the Labour Party should block VPNs.

A similar debate has also spread across the US as more states enforce some form of age verification laws. Michigan has been the most radical so far, proposing a bill that aims to completely ban not only VPN usage, but also the promotion of this important piece of tech.

"We want to make some noise and take the first step towards being loud advocates for VPNs," Campaigns and Communications Director at Fight for the Future, Lia Holland, told TechRadar. "It's important to make lawmakers aware that, if they come for this technology, they're gonna be facing an incredible uphill battle against more or less the whole internet."

Defends VPN Day of Action – all you need to know

Fight for the Future is asking everyone across the world to head to their page DefendVPNs.com and sign a petition to call their government on taking a "principled leadership" against VPNs.

If you are in the US, campaigners also invite everyone to use their call prompt (see image above) to reach out to the US Congress and directly ask lawmakers to refrain from implementing VPN restrictions.

"We want to hit them in the face with numbers to start," said Holland, explaining that these signatures (and calls) aim at building the foundation for more advocacy on circumventing tools.

Petition signatures are anything but the end goal, in fact. As the next step, Fight for the Future hopes to team up with other civil societies and ramp up the movement's momentum.

"We are starting with the big splash and VPN users. If the community can show up for us in a big way, then we can we can move mountains as we've done in the past. So I'm really hoping that people will take a moment on Thursday to join in," said Holland.

Why it's crucial to defend VPNs

A virtual private network (VPN) is security software that millions of adults use daily to boost their online privacy, security, and overall internet experience. Thanks to IP-spoofing capabilities, VPNs are also great tools to bypass online geo-restrictions by making you appear as if you're browsing from another country.

The latter is exactly why the likes of Proton VPN experienced hourly spikes in usage as high as 1,400% in the UK starting from July 25, as mandatory age verification was enforced. It's, however, impossible to know whether behind these stats there are adults simply using a VPN for their everyday protection, others unwilling to provide sensitive details to prove their age, or under-18s looking to evade the checks altogether.

This wasn't enough to stop the children's commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, from deeming this technology a "loophole that needs closing." Nor the Michigan Republican representative, Josh Schriver, to craft a bill where internet service providers would be forced to "monitor and block known circumvention tools." Something that violently clashes against the 2024 call from the US-backed Open Technology Fund (OTF) that urged Big Tech to step in and support circumvention software.

According to Holland, that's the first move to paint a target on this technology. "I don't think it stops unless we show how incredibly unpopular that move would be and tell these politicians to focus on big tech, not privacy-preserving tools."

That's exactly where Defends VPNs Day of Action comes in.

Windscribe is one of the major VPN providers actively supporting Fight for the Future's initiative.

"Obviously, we oppose VPN bans and speak out where we can, but the reason we are backing this initiative in particular is because Fight for the Future has a proven history of actually moving the needle on digital rights," a company spokesperson told TechRadar.

If you're a subscriber, you should expect a notification from Windscribe via email and directly within the app.

While the full list of VPN providers joining the initiative isn't public, both the i2Coalition (a consortium that includes the likes of NordVPN and ExpressVPN) and the VPN Guild (the non-profit behind Russian providers like Amnezia VPN) have confirmed their participation to TechRadar.

All in all, Windscribe said: "We almost never ask our customers to support something outside Windscribe, so the fact that we are doing it should tell you how seriously we take this."

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