Recently, it became apparent to me that the battle against censorship was largely won. There is no longer a question of whether a person accessing the internet from behind a censorship barrier can evade the restrictions. The question has transformed from, "Can it be done?" to "Which tool is the best for my situation?" Let us take a look at some circumvention tools and note their usage numbers.
First, the number of VPN users has been growing rapidly in recent years. According to a report by Statista, the number of VPN users worldwide is expected to reach 3.8 billion by 2025. This growth is being driven by a number of factors, including the increasing popularity of streaming services, the growing concern about online privacy, and the increasing number of countries that are censoring the internet.
A lot of people are using Tor. According to the Tor Project, there were an estimated 2 million daily Tor users in January 2023. The top 10 countries by estimated number of Tor users were:
United States: 581,047 (21.52%)
Germany: 363,843 (13.48%)
Finland: 141,653 (5.25%)
India: 105,715 (3.92%)
Russia: 92,608 (3.43%)
France: 89,625 (3.32%)
Indonesia: 79,300 (2.94%)
Netherlands: 72,907 (2.70%)
United Kingdom: 69,228 (2.56%)
Iran: 65,236 (2.42%)
The number of people who use I2P is difficult to estimate, as the network is not as well-known as Tor. However, a 2018 study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, estimated that there were around 32,000 active I2P users on a daily basis. The study also found that the majority of I2P users are located in Europe and North America.
According to the I2P network status page, there are currently about 55,000 I2P nodes online. This number can fluctuate over time, but it is generally stable. The majority of I2P nodes are located in Europe and North America.
The number of Lokinet users is not publicly available information. However, the Lokinet team has said that the network is growing rapidly, and that there are now thousands of users. Lokinet is a decentralized network that provides anonymity and privacy to its users. It does this by routing traffic through a network of encrypted tunnels. Lokinet is often used by people who want to protect their privacy, such as journalists, activists, and people living in countries with repressive governments. However, Lokinet can also be used for illegal activities, such as accessing the dark web.