Iran's total internet shutdown impacts millions – and VPNs are powerless to help

Iran's government has shut down the internet as huge protests continue to spread across the country.

On January 8, 2026, internet access was disconnected completely and even the best VPNs could not bypass the shutdowns.

At the time of writing, the internet is still offline and millions of Iranians are being left in the dark – at a time when they need a free and open internet more than ever.

Total internet shutdown

The shutdown was first reported on January 8 by NetBlocks, who said Iran was "in the midst of a nationwide internet blackout."

The government's action followed "a series of escalating digital censorship measures" which have attempted to combat the widespread anti-government protests rapidly spreading across Iran.

In the early hours of January 9, NetBlocks confirmed Iran's internet had been offline for 12 hours. It said national connectivity was "flatlining at ~1% of ordinary levels."

Proton VPN's General Manager, David Peterson, reported an "unexpected dip and recovery in connectivity" at 15:20 GMT on January 8. At 16:25 GMT, there was "an abrupt drop in internet connectivity." By 19:00 GMT, Iran was "completely disconnected from the internet."

VPNs are a vital tool for bypassing internet censorship and obfuscating protocols are especially effective at bypassing content blocks. However, in the case of total internet shutdowns, VPNs are rendered useless.

Proton VPN confirmed a drop in VPN sessions originating in Iran. It said: "Normally, Proton VPN helps people affected by censorship to circumvent it, but in this case, the internet has been shut off entirely."

Tom's Guide has reached out to multiple VPN providers to confirm if they are also being affected by the shutdown. NordVPN and IPVanish all told us that they have no operations or customers in Iran.

Justas Pukys, Senior Product Manager at Surfshark, confirmed that in the case of a total internet shutdown it would be "impossible to connect to a VPN service."

VPNs aren't illegal in Iran, but unpermitted VPN use has been banned since 2013. Only government-approved VPN services are allowed and they are closely monitored. Despite this, a 2024 report found that 80% of Iranians relied on VPNs to bypass internet restrictions.

Iran's history of internet censorship

This is not the first time the Iranian government has shut down the internet. A three-day shutdown took place from June 18 to June 21, 2025, with full connectivity not returning to Iran until June 25.

According to Top10VPN.com, Iran shutdown the internet for a total of 170 hours in 2025. This cost the economy $214.7 million and impacted 71.9 million people.

Iran's move has received widespread condemnation from digital privacy activists. Index on Censorship said "shutting down the internet won’t erase the truth. Free access is a right, not a privilege."

Windscribe VPN hoped the shutdown wouldn't last long, saying "internet access in this day and age should be a human right."

According to the Surfshark Internet Tracker, Iran has disrupted network connection 54 times in the past, with an average duration of 30.3 hours.

Wider internet disruptions have occurred 61 times, averaging 284.7 days. Social media apps have been restricted seven times in the past and Iran currently restricts Facebook, X (Twitter), YouTube, and Telegram.

The specifics of Iran's internet shutdown is unclear, but it appears as though the government has simply turned the internet off. As stated above, this means VPNs have no effect and accessing the internet is incredibly challenging.

There has been no indication of when internet access will be returned and it's unlikely this will be the last case of internet censorship in Iran. Just over one week into 2026 and we have already seen staggering cases of internet censorship. These measures must be opposed at every opportunity, with access to a free and open internet a right.