Senegal holds the world record for VPN signup surge — 60,000% during the June 2023 shutdowns. Orange, Free and Expresso all blocked WhatsApp, Wave and social media on government orders.
See top VPNs →Senegal holds the world record for VPN demand surge. During the June 2023 sentencing of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, the government ordered Orange Senegal, Free and Expresso to block WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram, YouTube and mobile money services including Wave. VPN signups spiked by 60,000% within hours — the highest ever recorded globally for a single political event.
The July and August 2023 shutdowns followed a similar pattern. These are operator-level blocks — not infrastructure cuts. Surfshark NoBorders and ProtonVPN Stealth both work by disguising VPN traffic as normal HTTPS. Install before any political period — shutdowns arrive without warning.
Install before any political tension. ProtonVPN APK on protonvpn.com if the Play Store becomes inaccessible.