NordVPN just made its most politically charged move yet. The consumer VPN giant has partnered with Internews, a nonprofit that supports independent media in some of the world’s most dangerous environments, to provide digital security tools to journalists, activists, and human rights defenders facing state-level surveillance and cyber threats. It’s a deal that says something about where the VPN industry sees its future—and about how dire the situation has become for press freedom worldwide.
The partnership, first reported by TechRadar, will give Internews access to NordVPN’s tools for distribution to at-risk individuals working in repressive media environments. That means VPN subscriptions, but also access to Nord Security’s broader product line, including its threat protection and password management features. The goal is straightforward: make it harder for authoritarian governments and malicious actors to track, intercept, or compromise the communications of people doing accountability journalism and human rights work.
This matters more than it might seem at first glance.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 320 journalists were imprisoned globally in 2024, with China, Myanmar, Belarus, Russia, and Israel among the worst offenders. Reporters Without Borders has documented a sustained erosion of press freedom across every continent. Digital surveillance is now one of the primary tools governments use to identify sources, track movements, and build cases against reporters. Pegasus spyware, developed by NSO Group, has been found on the phones of journalists in at least 45 countries, according to research by Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. The threat isn’t hypothetical. It’s industrial.
Internews operates in over 100 countries and has decades of experience training journalists in hostile environments. The organization has historically focused on media development—helping build independent outlets, training reporters, strengthening information access in conflict zones and authoritarian states. Adding a commercial VPN partner to that infrastructure is a pragmatic evolution. VPNs don’t solve every security problem, but they address a critical one: preventing network-level surveillance and ISP logging of a user’s internet activity.
“We are committed to supporting those who work tirelessly to uphold press freedom and protect human rights,” a NordVPN spokesperson said in the announcement. And while corporate commitments like this always deserve some scrutiny, NordVPN’s track record gives the claim reasonable backing. The company is based in Panama, outside the jurisdiction of the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, and Fourteen Eyes intelligence-sharing alliances. It has completed multiple independent security audits by firms including Deloitte, VerSprite, and Cure53. Its no-logs policy has been verified in practice—in 2022, NordVPN’s infrastructure was examined after a data center breach and no user activity logs were found.
But a VPN alone won’t protect a journalist targeted by a nation-state actor deploying zero-click exploits. That’s the uncomfortable truth. VPNs encrypt traffic between a device and a server, masking the user’s IP address and preventing local network snooping. They don’t protect against malware already on a device, social engineering attacks, or endpoint compromise. For journalists in places like Iran, Ethiopia, or Vietnam, a VPN is one layer in what needs to be a multi-layered security posture—alongside encrypted messaging apps, hardened devices, and rigorous operational security practices.
Internews presumably understands this better than most. The organization has long provided holistic digital safety training, not just tool distribution. So the NordVPN partnership likely fits into a broader security curriculum rather than serving as a standalone solution.
The timing is notable too. VPN usage has spiked in countries experiencing internet censorship crackdowns. In Russia, VPN demand surged after the government intensified its blocking of independent media following the invasion of Ukraine. In Iran, VPN downloads exploded during the Mahsa Amini protests in 2022. Myanmar, where the military junta has systematically dismantled press freedom since the 2021 coup, has seen similar patterns. Research from Top10VPN has tracked these demand spikes in real time, showing that VPN adoption is now a direct barometer of repression.
For NordVPN, the Internews deal also serves a business purpose. Not cynically—but strategically. The VPN market is brutally competitive, with providers like ExpressVPN, Surfshark (now owned by the same parent company as NordVPN, Nord Security), Mullvad, and Proton VPN all fighting for market share. Differentiation increasingly comes not from speed benchmarks or server counts but from trust. Partnerships with credible nonprofits, investment in independent audits, and visible commitments to press freedom all build the kind of brand credibility that matters to privacy-conscious users. Proton VPN has pursued a similar strategy, offering free VPN access to journalists and partnering with organizations like the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
There’s a broader industry trend here. VPN providers are positioning themselves less as tools for streaming Netflix across borders and more as essential infrastructure for digital rights. That shift reflects market maturity—and a growing awareness among consumers that privacy tools serve a purpose beyond convenience.
Still, skeptics will raise valid questions. How will NordVPN accounts be distributed? Will metadata about which journalists and activists receive accounts be protected? What happens if a government pressures NordVPN to reveal information about users in a specific country? NordVPN’s Panama jurisdiction and audited no-logs policy provide meaningful protections, but no system is invulnerable to legal or extralegal pressure. Internews and NordVPN will need to be transparent about how this program operates in practice—not just in press releases.
And then there’s the question of access. Many of the countries where journalists face the greatest danger are also countries where VPN use is illegal or heavily restricted. China’s Great Firewall actively blocks most commercial VPN protocols. Russia has banned numerous VPN providers. Iran throttles encrypted traffic during periods of unrest. NordVPN does offer obfuscated servers designed to disguise VPN traffic as regular HTTPS connections, which can help circumvent deep packet inspection. But the cat-and-mouse game between VPN providers and state censorship apparatus is constant and uneven.
None of this diminishes the value of the partnership. Providing free, high-quality VPN access to people doing dangerous work is a concrete, material contribution to press freedom. It won’t stop a determined intelligence agency. But it will make routine surveillance harder, protect sources during sensitive communications, and give journalists in restrictive environments a basic layer of privacy they might not otherwise afford.
The real test will be in implementation. How many people actually get access. How quickly. And whether the program adapts as threats evolve. NordVPN and Internews have the resources and the expertise to make this work. Whether they follow through with the sustained commitment this kind of initiative demands—that’s what the industry should be watching.
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