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Cybersecurity

Proton VPN sees 450% sign-up surge in Vietnam, adds China server as cybercontrols tighten

Proton VPN registrations from Vietnam jumped 450% as a strict cyberlaw took effect; the company also unveiled a rare Chinese IP server.

AI News Feed · 2026-09-09 06:38

The surge, tracked by the Proton VPN Observatory, follows a 170% spike in Vietnam in July after authorities introduced hefty fines for sharing what they define as "fake news" on social media, said David Peterson, Proton VPN's general manager. He told TechRadar that daily registrations reached 450% above baseline on September 1, on top of an elevated level seen since August.

Vietnam's new law requires domestic and foreign telecommunication platforms to store granular user data, including IP addresses and account names, and tightens online speech controls. Peterson said a combination of social media fines, cryptocurrency crackdowns and ISP logging obligations has compounded, sending a single message to the Vietnamese public that ordinary online activity now carries legal risk.

He also noted that some Vietnamese news outlets that have faced censorship have begun recommending VPNs to their readers. For local users, a VPN encrypts web traffic and masks IP addresses, making it harder for ISPs and government monitors to know which sites they visit. However, it does not remove the legal requirement to provide identification when registering for local social media accounts or trading platforms.

Separately, Proton VPN on September 3 added China Smart Routing servers, which give users a Chinese IP address while using infrastructure in Hong Kong. The company said the primary supported use case is for connecting into China from abroad to reach Chinese content and services such as banking apps, streaming and region-locked platforms; it is not intended to help people inside China bypass the Great Firewall.

The new China location runs on Proton VPN's own bare-metal hardware, so it retains the network's security features. Only a handful of VPN providers, including Private Internet Access, CyberGhost and PureVPN, offer a Chinese IP; ExpressVPN, Surfshark and NordVPN do not list such a server.