Telegram ban row: Proton VPN GM's X account withheld as signups surge
The X account of Proton VPN General Manager David Peterson has been suspended in India. This comes after David shared a post stating that sign-ups for Proton VPN had surged in the country following a ban on Telegram.
David Peterson, the general manager at Proton VPN, has had his X account suspended in India. This comes right after the Proton VPN chief has posted that the company saw a sharp rise in sign-ups after India announced a temporary ban on Telegram ahead of the NEET re-test.
In an X post which is not accessible in India now, Peterson claimed that hourly registrations for Proton VPN rose 150 per cent on Tuesday night after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) blocked Telegram “over leaked exam questions.”
The post now reads, “This post from @davidgpeterson has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand.”
A VPN is a virtual private network that allows you to change your geolocation online. That is, by using a service like Proton VPN, users in India can set their digital address outside the country, thus allowing them to access blocked websites or platforms.
Sign-ups for Proton VPN increased by 120 per cent on Tuesday, June 16. The following day, the sign-ups had seen a 150 per cent surge, as per Proton VPN’s official X account, which is still accessible in India at the time of writing. India is said to have roughly 150 million Telegram users.
VPN use has risen in India after access to Telegram was cut to prevent cheating linked to a nationwide entrance exam for prospective medical students.Google Trends also showed a rise over the last two days in searches for “Telegram vpn” and “vpn for Telegram.”
Telegram has been suspended until exams are complete on June 22, a day after the NEET re-test. The National Testing Agency (NTA) states that the move was taken “in response to the organised use of the platform by cheating rackets to defraud candidates” taking the exam.
On X, Telegram creator Pavel Durov has previously said that the ban “punishes 150M+ ordinary Telegram users in India - not the insiders who leaked the exam materials. And the ban hasn't stopped anything. The leaks just moved to other apps.”
David Peterson, the general manager at Proton VPN, has had his X account suspended in India. This comes right after the Proton VPN chief has posted that the company saw a sharp rise in sign-ups after India announced a temporary ban on Telegram ahead of the NEET re-test.
In an X post which is not accessible in India now, Peterson claimed that hourly registrations for Proton VPN rose 150 per cent on Tuesday night after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) blocked Telegram “over leaked exam questions.”
The post now reads, “This post from @davidgpeterson has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand.”
A VPN is a virtual private network that allows you to change your geolocation online. That is, by using a service like Proton VPN, users in India can set their digital address outside the country, thus allowing them to access blocked websites or platforms.
Sign-ups for Proton VPN increased by 120 per cent on Tuesday, June 16. The following day, the sign-ups had seen a 150 per cent surge, as per Proton VPN’s official X account, which is still accessible in India at the time of writing. India is said to have roughly 150 million Telegram users.
VPN use has risen in India after access to Telegram was cut to prevent cheating linked to a nationwide entrance exam for prospective medical students.Google Trends also showed a rise over the last two days in searches for “Telegram vpn” and “vpn for Telegram.”
Telegram has been suspended until exams are complete on June 22, a day after the NEET re-test. The National Testing Agency (NTA) states that the move was taken “in response to the organised use of the platform by cheating rackets to defraud candidates” taking the exam.
On X, Telegram creator Pavel Durov has previously said that the ban “punishes 150M+ ordinary Telegram users in India - not the insiders who leaked the exam materials. And the ban hasn't stopped anything. The leaks just moved to other apps.”
