Psiphon Network’s internet censorship circumvention tool has enabled nearly 1.4 million Cubans to use websites after Cuba’s government restricted access to popular social media and messaging platforms.
Thousands of Cubans took part in nationwide protests on Sunday against shortages of basic goods, restrictions on civil liberties and the government’s handling of an increase in COVID-19 infections, the most significant unrest in the communist nation in decades.
The Toronto-based company Psiphon said that 1.389 million users accessed the open web through its network from Cuba on Thursday, and by Friday afternoon 1.238 million. Psiphon said the roughly 1.4 million represented about 20% of Cuban internet users.
Its open-source circumvention tool can be downloaded from app stores such as Google Play or Apple to “maximize your chances of bypassing censorship,” the company said.
University researchers from Canada developed the software in 2007 to allow users to bypass government internet firewalls.
Cuba’s government has restricted access to platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp amid the protests, global internet surveillance company NetBlocks said.
Psiphon Network receives financial support from the U.S. government and has also helped people in other countries, such as Iran and China, overcome state-sanctioned restrictions on internet access.
For more information, read the original story in Reuters.