From the recent internet shutdowns during protests in Iran to Russia blocking access to thousands of websites and services following its invasion of Ukraine, internet censorship is on the rise.

Last year, the civil liberties NGO Freedom House reported that global internet freedom had declined for 15 consecutive years, with conditions worsening in 28 of the 72 countries it assessed.

Amidst the growing censorship creep, open-source VPN provider Amnezia VPN has just announced it has launched a new programme, offering a free premium subscription to human rights defenders, digital rights campaigners and journalists through a partnership with non-profit human rights organisation Civil Rights Defenders.

Amnezia says more than 300 journalists and activists have already received sponsored premium subscriptions over the past year. But it’s now opening up the scheme so that anyone working in a high-risk environment can apply for a free premium subscription.

The VPN provider says that its programme is open to people who investigate human rights violations, report on censorship, digital rights, privacy or cybersecurity, work with sensitive information or carry out their work in countries with heavy internet censorship.

Read more: Best VPNs, reviewed

Eligible individuals can apply using a professional email address linked to their organisation or, if they need to remain anonymous, submit their application directly to Civil Rights Defenders.

Amnezia VPN isn't the only provider with such a scheme. NordVPN has run an Emergency VPN programme for years. It provides up to six months of free premium VPN access to people facing censorship, targeted surveillance or threats to their safety.

On 13 March, the company partnered with Internews to integrate NordVPN into the non-profit's digital safety programmes, giving journalists, human rights defenders and civil society organisations access to VPN tools, password management and cybersecurity resources in the most restrictive countries.

Surfshark has also partnered with Internews to provide 100 media outlets and civil society organisations in nine high-risk regions with a free Surfshark One subscription and digital security training.

Best VPN deals

If you want a VPN that does everything well, NordVPN is my pick of the bunch. It’s fast, secure and has some really neat features, including Double VPN. This routes your traffic through two servers instead of one for an extra layer of privacy, and Onion over VPN, which adds the anonymity of the Tor network, without needing a separate browser. I also really like Meshnet, which lets you create secure, encrypted connections between your own devices to help you securely access your files or share a private network when you’re away from home.

This is a really good VPN if you want a service with loads of features, but don’t want to pay extortionate prices. It’s owned by the same parent company as NordVPN but operates independently. The interface is nice and tidy, speeds are fast, and it’s got loads of features for which you’d expect to pay more. You get unlimited device connections on a single plan, plus split tunnelling, MultiHop and an effective kill switch. It also recently added split tunnelling to iOS, fixing one of my main gripes with the service.

For more, **we’ve found the best cheap VPNs **