A report from the vpnMentor research team has found that demand for VPNs in Bangladesh shot up by 5016% in the past week amidst a five-day internet shutdown that was imposed after violent protests over the employment quota. The study showed that starting July 22, the demand for VPNs increased dramatically, peaking on July 25 three days later.

The numbers started falling on July 25 after internet services were restored but still showed an increase by 2500% until yesterday.

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VPNs help people bypass firewalls by masking their IP addresses and routing the internet connection through servers in other countries to access websites that would have been restricted during the ban.

The research team has found similar spikes in VPN usage in the past during internet suspensions or restrictions on certain apps and websites. Earlier in March this year, VPN demand rose in Spain by 330% a day ahead of an opposition protest in Madrid. Two weeks later, VPN demand grew by 150% again in the country after Telegram was banned temporarily.