- Egypt has reportedly blocked Discord since the weekend.
- Proton VPN has confirmed an increase in usage as a result of the ban
- Discord is also banned in Jordan, Türkiye, and Russia.
Discord users in Egypt were left searching for alternatives after the popular communication platform suddenly stopped working on major internet service providers over the weekend.
Reports of the outage began flooding social media on Saturday, with users complaining of connection failures and screens “stuck on loading,” hallmarks of a possible government-level lockdown rather than a simple service interruption.
As it has become the standard response to digital censorship in the region, users have immediately sought the The best VPN services to bypass restrictions. Confirmation of this exodus came quickly from Proton VPN, a popular choice thanks to its free and secure VPN app.
Proton VPN subscriptions from Egypt 🇪🇬 spiked sharply (+103%) on Saturday amid reports that WE (Telecom Egypt) and Vodafone blocked Discord. This follows recent trends in Egypt restricting some social and VoIP platforms in an attempt to stifle emerging youth-led activism. pic.twitter.com/W8q3E1fiLMJanuary 11, 2026
David Peterson, CEO of Proton VPN, shared data on X, revealing a dramatic increase in VPN usage originating from Egypt. Data indicates that as soon as Discord servers became inaccessible on Saturday, Egyptian netizens began downloading the VPN en masse to bypass the block.
“ProtonVPN free signups from Egypt continue to accelerate as the country’s Discord block appears to expand, affecting more users,” Peterson wrote in an update on Monday as new signups hit a more than 250% increase above normal levels.
This incident marks another flashpoint in the ongoing tug-of-war between Internet freedom and state control in the MENA region. For many, a VPN is no longer just a privacy tool; It is an essential utility to maintain basic communication.
Why is Discord blocked in Egypt?
While there has been no official statement from Egypt’s National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA), the pattern is familiar. Egypt has a history of restricting VoIP (Voice over IP) services to protect the revenue of state telecommunications providers and control encrypted communications.
This isn’t the first time Discord has been in the crosshairs either. The app has reportedly faced temporary throttling and blocking in Egypt before, often forcing gamers and remote workers to rely on VPNs for weeks at a time.
This move follows a worrying trend of Discord bans across the region. In late 2025, Jordan blocked Discord following similar bans in Türkiye and Russia, leaving millions of users disconnected from their communities.
As Newsweek reported, young people in Marcocco and Nepal have been using Discord as a platform to organize a wave of protests across the country.
How a VPN restores access
For those who are not familiar with the technology, a Virtual private network (VPN) works by creating an encrypted tunnel between your device and a server in another country.
Using a VPN not only increases users’ online privacy and security, but also tricks their Internet Service Providers (ISPs) into thinking they are browsing from a completely different country.
This allows you to bypass local locks. All you need to do is choose a VPN server located outside of Egypt or any other country where Discord is currently blocked.
As digital walls get closer, the data shared by Peterson highlights a resilient user base that refuses to be disconnected. It remains to be seen whether this blocking is a temporary issue or a permanent policy, but for now, the VPN tunnel is the only way out.
