VPN ban in Pakistan: How to stay safe online and bypass restrictions
VPN usage in Pakistan has never been higher. The government plans to introduce a new policy that could potentially ban the use of ‘unregistered’ services from today, November 30, 2024.
People in Pakistan have turned to VPN services in droves in 2024 as they looked for a way to bypass growing online censorship. WhatsApp is just the latest social media platform to currently be blocked in the country. The ban came two days after authorities restricted Bluesky amid a global surge in popularity. X, Facebook and Instagram are also not accessible without VPN.
I spoke to some experts to understand what’s at stake and find out everything you might need to know to preserve internet freedoms in the country.
How to avoid disruption in Pakistan
- Set up a manual VPN
- Contact VPN support teams
- Rotate VPN providers
If you’re having trouble downloading or using your VPN app in the coming days or weeks, Gytis Malinauskas, head of legal at Surfshark, suggests manually set up a VPN connection. Details on how to do this on specific devices can probably be found on your carrier’s website, such as this step-by-step guide from Surfshark. Please note that you still need a VPN account for this.
If this doesn’t work, Contact your carrier’s support team for help. “Our team is continuously working to provide our users with privacy and security solutions, even in regions with challenging internet landscapes,” Malinauskas explains.
Both Malinauskas and Simon Migliano, head of research at Top10VPN, also recommend it rotating through multiple VPN providers.
Are free VPNs a solution?
Potential. I recommend checking out our best free VPN page to get the safest free offers – PrivadoVPN and Proton VPN are today’s top picks.
“It will probably be a bit of a lottery, at least at first,” Migliano told TechRadar. “Based on the recent testing of the new Pakistani firewall, I expect VPN blocking to become much more widespread from November 30. But as we have seen in countries with much more mature internet censorship regimes, such as China and Iran, it is virtually impossible to block all VPNs all the time.”
It’s worth bearing in mind that the legal grounds for using a VPN to bypass restrictions in Pakistan after November 30 are not yet clear. Commenting on this point, Migliano said: “Using an unregistered VPN in Pakistan after the deadline will be a risky proposition, depending on how strictly the authorities enforce the new rules.”
Alternatives to Using a VPN in Pakistan
- Tor browser
- Proxy services
- SmartDNS service
VPNs may be the most widespread and easy-to-use circumvention tools out there, but they are certainly not the only way to bypass internet blocks, bans, and other geo-restrictions.
Tor Browser is probably the best VPN alternative you can use. Tor is completely free to use and is even considered a more secure option, as it routes your Internet connections (and data in transit) through at least three encrypted layers. However, this strengthened encryption can significantly slow down your connection speed.
It is virtually impossible to block all VPNs all the time
Simon Migliano, Top10VPN
Proxy services are another effective method to spoof your IP address and trick your ISP (Internet Service Provider) into thinking you are browsing from a completely different country in just a few clicks.
The downside to this is that, unlike VPNs, proxies don’t encrypt your internet connections, making them less secure overall. Since the Pakistani firewall is also expected to boost online surveillance, I recommend using this method as a last resort – especially now that the risk of circumventing government-imposed online restrictions is unclear.
You can also use a SmartDNS service to easily bypass online geo-restrictions. Again, these services don’t offer the same level of protection as VPNs, meaning they don’t encrypt your data. Worse yet, a SmartDNS doesn’t even change your IP, but instead simply redirects information about your location.
Why does Pakistan restrict VPN use?
The government first shared plans in August to regulate the use of VPNs to combat VPN abuse. Authorities later considered unregistered VPNs a ‘security risk’ for Pakistan as they could be used to access ‘sensitive data’.
Under the new policy, using a VPN is still allowed for legitimate purposes such as banking, foreign missions, business ventures, universities, IT companies, call centers and freelance professionals.
This is why the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is urging companies and freelancers to register their VPN services before the November 30 deadline to avoid disruption.
The the debate is still ongoinghowever, on whether commercial VPN use should also be blocked. That said, VPNs have often been a target throughout the year, with residents experiencing temporary connectivity issues starting in February (when the former Twitter was first restricted).
Do you know that?
The best VPN apps are security software that encrypts your internet connections to prevent snooping. They also spoof your real IP address location to increase anonymity and grant access to otherwise geo-restricted content.
Not just a new strict policy, VPN censorship is also expected to worsen as the government strengthens its filtering technology.
If Al Jazeera reports thisThe Pakistani government has implemented a China-style firewall, which was first tested in mid-July. This system allows authorities not only to better monitor online traffic, but also to control the use of popular apps more efficiently.
Most notably, Pakistan’s new firewall “has the ability to block VPNs” – a Defense Ministry official familiar with the new implementations told Al Jazeera.
At the time of writing this, it’s still early to determine the full impact all this will have on people who use VPNs to maintain access to the free internet. However, experts are concerned about this increase in internet censorship.
“Efforts to tighten online surveillance always raise concerns about digital privacy and freedom of expression,” Gytis Malinauskas, head of legal at Surfshark, told TechRadar. “This could also worsen the digital divide and inequality between those who have access to unfiltered information and those who cannot.”
