VPN Guild

🛡 Defend VPNs Day of Action

Today we join the global #DefendVPNs Day of Action.
https://www.defendvpns.com

A VPN doesn't conflict with a well-built age check. It conflicts with a badly built one.

A site-level check reads your age and your IP at the same time. Hide the IP, the check breaks — so lawmakers go after the tools instead. Utah now demands that websites age-check anyone physically in the state even behind a VPN: a location they cannot determine, because hiding it is what the tool does.

Meanwhile UK government research shows VPNs are only the third route around age checks. 24% of kids just enter a false age. 53% find services with no real check at all.

We don't claim children never use VPNs, but the response is out of proportion.

Full statement by the VPN Guild.

👉 Sign the petition DefendVPNs.com

#DigitalRights #Privacy #Encryption #KeepItOn #VPNGuild

VPN access is now a recognized right in the EU

Two landmark decisions in July 2026 mark a turning point for digital rights:

⚖️ The CJEU ruled in Anne Frank Fonds v. Anne Frank Stichting (C-788/24) that VPN providers are neutral technical intermediaries - not liable for how users route their traffic. First-ever ruling of its kind at the EU's highest court.

🚫 The EU Council sanctioned VK Company, the developer of Max, and related entities - explicitly citing VPN blocking and surveillance as grounds for sanctions. First time EU sanctions practice has named digital rights violations this directly.

These outcomes didn't happen in a vacuum - they're the result of years of sustained advocacy by VPN Guild and the wider digital rights community, who have consistently pushed to have VPN access recognized as a fundamental human right in the digital age.

Together, these decisions set a new global benchmark: blocking VPN access isn't a technical choice, it's a human rights violation with legal consequences.

vpnguild.org/statement-by-vpn-guild-on-the-eu-recognition-of-vpn-access

#VPN #DigitalRights #EU

Statement of VPN Guild on Blocking of VLESS Protocol in Russia

Russia’s attempt to block the VLESS protocol marks another step in its campaign against online privacy and uncensored access. But despite alarming headlines, VLESS and other privacy tools continue to evolve. This statement outlines what happened, and why it matters for the citizens' rights and the means to protect their digital freedom.

#vless #Privacy #Russia #VPN #VPNGuild

https://vpnguild.org/statement-of-vpn-guild-on-blocking-of-vless-protocol-in-russia

🔒 Defend VPNs = Defend Rights

🌍 Today we join the global #DefendVPNs Day of Action. https://www.defendvpns.com
VPNs are not loopholes — they’re lifelines for safety, free expression, and access to information.

Full statement by the VPN Guild: https://vpnguild.org/vpn-guild-statement-in-support-of-the-global-defend-vpns-day-of-action

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⚖️ What we ask:
👩‍⚖️ Lawmakers:
• Affirm VPN legality
• Apply strict necessity & proportionality
• Stop blunt tools like DPI blocking & app-store purges

💻 Platforms:
• Publish government takedown demands
• Enable resilient distribution channels
• Protect end-to-end encryption
• Resist pre-compliance with vague or extra-territorial orders
• Adopt special review procedures for requests from non-democratic regimes

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📨 Our message to Telegram
The VPN Guild is sending a letter to Telegram today urging the company to:
❌ Lift its VPN advertising ban
❌ Stop over-compliance with authoritarian demands

Restricting VPN visibility under pressure directly undermines freedom of expression and user safety.
👉 We ask Telegram to reaffirm its founding commitment: resist censorship and stand with users, not with censors.

⸻

✊ Call to Action
Ask politicians and platforms to #DefendVPNs.
Together we defend rights, privacy, and access to free information.

#DigitalRights #Privacy #Encryption #KeepItOn #VPNGuild

Telegram thanks us for joining the call to reverse Nepal’s Telegram ban. 🙌

VPN Guild's Statement on Russian ‘Law Against Googling’

The recent adoption of ‘Law Against Googling’ (No. 755710-8) in Russia represents a troubling escalation in digital censorship, significantly impacting internet freedom, privacy rights, and online security. While not explicitly banning VPN usage outright, the law criminalizes advertising VPN services, imposes substantial fines for refusing cooperation with authorities, and penalizes the intentional search for materials deemed "extremist." This law sets a dangerous precedent by effectively criminalizing the consumption of online content and placing VPN providers under undue pressure to compromise user privacy.

As a nonprofit association of VPN providers committed to privacy, trust, innovation, transparency, and accountability, we firmly oppose measures that undermine secure and private communications

https://vpnguild.org/vpn-guilds-statement-on-russian-law-against-googling

Russian authorities are pressuring Western corporations to make life easier for Kremlin censorship by removing VPNs from their platforms. But thankfully, there are some measures users can take to circumvent these restrictions.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/06/24/western-tech-companies-are-capitulating-to-russian-censors-heres-how-russians-can-fight-back-a89349

Russia escalates its war on digital privacy.

Over 100 VPN apps have vanished from Russian app stores, including AdGuard VPN, amid mounting pressure from Roskomnadzor. Tech giants like Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, and Huawei are complying with takedown demands, raising alarm among privacy advocates. Experts warn this is a clear attempt to tighten internet censorship and cut citizens off from uncensored information.

https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/a-clear-escalation-in-russias-crackdown-on-digital-privacy-tools-experts-warn-against-recent-vpn-disappearances-in-russia

Технорассылка: как Apple и Google стали проводниками интернет-цензуры в России

НАСТОЯЩИЙ МАТЕРИАЛ (ИНФОРМАЦИЯ) ПРОИЗВЕДЕН И РАСПРОСТРАНЕН ИНОСТРАННЫМ АГЕНТОМ THE BELL, ЛИБО КАСАЕТСЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ ИНОСТРАННОГО АГЕНТА THE BELL. 18+

За последние месяцы из App Store и Google Play в России исчезли сотни VPN-сервисов. Причем удаляли их, по требованию Роскомнадзора, сами бигтехи. Вместе с Саркисом Дарбиняном, киберадвокатом и экспертом RKS Global и VPN Guild, разбираемся, почему технологические гиганты оказались такими сговорчивыми и идут на поводу у российских властей в вопросах интернет-цензуры, какие именно VPN Роскомнадзор не любит больше всего и почему блокировка VPN — не признак его качества или безопасности.

А еще:
— Что такое «цифровой детокс» по-русски и как как перед 9 мая в России нормализовали шатдауны
— Почему OpenAI отказалась от идеи стать коммерческой компанией
— До чего людей доводят чересчур вовлеченные и эмпатичные нейросети

Today our website was blocked by the Russian authorities.

We know how much Roskomnadzor does not like VPN, the most armor-piercing technology for protecting privacy and access to information. Probably, the censorship agency would prefer that ordinary people who find themselves behind the wall of censorship in the country of mass digital surveillance did not have such technology at all. But it does exist, and people have the right to use it for their own protection in this wild digital world that the modern Internet has become. This is why the Guild members united - to develop effective industry standards and together resist rabid corporate and state censorship. We fully expected such a reaction from the censorship agency in relation to our web portal, but this will not stop us.

The Guild members continue to work hard to ensure that the services they create remain accessible to Russians and help them preserve their digital rights when there is no hope for the law.

@vpnguild

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