New research has found that 82% of internet users in countries with some of the world’s strictest internet censorship rules expect the need for web access tools like VPNs to grow over the next year. The research, conducted by Hellocollected insights from 2,000 internet users in China, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and found that users in those regions currently struggled to access educational information and resources (43%) and online news (29 %).
When it comes to overcoming the growing challenge of internet censorship, citizens in the most restricted areas overwhelmingly believe that technology providers need to do more to make online content accessible. Ninety-seven percent of those surveyed believe that this is the case, and nearly all respondents in China (99%) believe that technology providers should do more in this area.
Web content tools are becoming increasingly important as censorship increases and users attempt to circumvent local restrictions. The findings show that 92% of respondents who use web content unlocking tools to access online content believe they are important to enable this access. Ninety-five percent of Internet users with restricted access to online content already use web content tools to access restricted content. Some online tools can be expensive and therefore not accessible to all users, making free tools that enable a gateway to web content a necessity. When it comes to free-to-use tools, 80% of respondents would consider using free technology tools to access online content.
“The internet was created to be a global boundless resource that benefits us all, but geopolitical interference is closing it off in certain regions, and we all need to work together to fight back against this,” explains Avi Raz Cohen out, Hola’s general manager. “As we can see from the findings, users are struggling to access educational materials and online news content, among other things, and this is simply unacceptable. We agree with users in those regions that tech companies should do more to address this. and an important weapon in this battle is free web content tools that help unlock blocked content. We are proud to provide free VPN technology and web tools that unlock online content and help bypass restrictions. One thing is for sure, we will do everything we can we can to support citizens around the world in their pursuit of limitless online freedom.”
This article is sponsored by Hola.