Effective Anti-Censorship is a Partnership Between Technology and People

Internet freedom doesn’t happen through technology alone. It doesn’t happen through goodwill alone. What actually works is the combination of both: continuous technical innovation, and the engagement and participation of the ordinary people for whom it matters most — the people in the censored country, and those in the diaspora. Psiphon learned that lesson during one of the most severe internet shutdowns the world has ever witnessed: the one we just went through in Iran, in early 2026.

You built your product to work everywhere. But 'everywhere' doesn't work the way it used to. A logistics company routes drivers through three African countries. One morning, the app stopped loading in one of them. No error message. No alert. Drivers just can't connect. It takes the team two days to realize the government throttled the protocol their app depends on. By then, deliveries have stalled, customers have churned, and the support queue is a disaster.

The internet was built on a simple idea: that information should flow freely, that collaboration should have no borders, and that access should be universal. That's not the reality for billions of people. In 2024, 4.8 billion people experienced government-imposed online restrictions. As of April 8, 2026, Iran's internet shutdown has exceeded 39 consecutive days and counting, the longest nationwide internet disruption ever recorded anywhere in the world. Russia is blocking platforms and cracking down on the tools people use to get around it. Across Africa, elections are being held under the cover of digital darkness. This is the world we work in. And it's exactly why Psiphon exists.