"Workarounds are very limited" – VPNs stop working in Uganda as internet connectivity drops

• VPNs no longer working in Uganda as internet shutdown intensifies
• After a 8,000% spike, Proton VPN confirms disruption
• Digital rights experts warn that workarounds are now very limited

VPNs have stopped working in Uganda as the country's internet shutdown intensified ahead of the election.

The ongoing internet blackout follows a surge in interest for privacy tools, with Proton VPN recording a massive increase in sign-ups in the country, peaking at 8,000 hourly new users on Tuesday.

Talking to TechRadar, Proton VPN's General Manager, David Peterson, confirmed that internet connectivity dropped drastically on Wednesday, making VPNs unusable.

"Uganda has followed the recent trend set by Iran and Afghanistan, where governments seeking to silence opposition and operate without global scrutiny have gone beyond website bans and VPN restrictions to completely unplugging the internet," said Peterson.

Why VPN stopped working in Uganda?

On Tuesday, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) ordered internet service and mobile network providers to suspend access to the internet. Social media platforms, messaging apps, video streaming sites, and even satellite internet connections have all been impacted.

People initially managed to use VPN apps to overcome some of the restrictions. However, internet access has since become "almost completely unavailable," as per the latest Cloudflare Radar data.

Felicia Anthonio, #KeepItOn Global Campaign Manager at Access Now, warned: "This amounts to a complete internet blackout, rendering VPNs ineffective as they rely on some form of connectivity to function and plunging millions of people into digital darkness."

What can people in Uganda do?

Workarounds for people in Uganda are extremely limited at the moment.

Anthonio warned that the shutdown is "comprehensive, in scale, scope, and impact," confirming that authorities have also blocked roaming services and satellite connections often used to bypass restrictions.

While there are reports that people have used Bluetooth-based peer-to-peer mesh network apps like Bitchat to communicate without the internet, Anthonio argues these are "no substitute for open internet access."

The democratic stakes could not be higher. "Deliberately cutting the country off from the rest of the world just days before a highly anticipated election is a profound betrayal and a blatant disregard for democracy," Anthonio told TechRadar.

"Without [internet access], the incumbent has an unfair advantage, the opposition is silenced, voters are denied critical information, journalists and election observers cannot report and monitor, and human rights organizations are unable to monitor and document human rights abuses in a timely manner."

Anthonio urges citizens to document events and abuses offline whenever safe to do so, ensuring evidence can be shared once connectivity is eventually restored.

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