We estimate the number of users by analyzing the requests induced by clients to relays and bridges.
This graph shows the estimated number of clients connecting via bridges. These numbers are derived from directory requests counted on bridges. Bridges distinguish connecting clients by transport protocol, which may include pluggable transports, so that graphs are available for different transports. For further details check the documentation on Reproducible Metrics.
The following events have been manually collected in the metrics-timeline Git repository and might be related to the displayed graph.
| Dates | Places/Protocols | Description and Links |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-10-08 to 2021-11-14 | Netherlands Relays Unknown |
Temporary quintupling of direct users from the Netherlands.
relay graph |
| 2021-10-03 to present | Egypt Relays Unknown |
Increase of relay users in Egypt.
Twitter thread relay graph |
| 2021-10-01 to 2021-10-07 | Belarus Relays |
Increase of users in Belarus, relay only. According to OONI data, the Tor Project website was unblocked and Tor direct connections were accessible for a few days and, then, it was blocked again.
graph OONI Tor test |
| 2021-09-22 to 2021-10-07 |
Experiment to investigate the accuracy of relays' advertised bandwidth.
status.torproject.org mailing list post advertised bandwidth graph |
|
| 2021-08-31 to 2021-09-12 | Brazil Relays |
Increase of users in Brazil, relay only, due protests.
graph article |
| 2021-08-27 to 2021-09-08 |
Experiment to investigate the accuracy of relays' advertised bandwidth.
status.torproject.org mailing list post advertised bandwidth graph |
|
| 2021-08-12 to 2021-08-14 | Zambia |
Block of social media websites and WhatsApp during the national elections. Increase in the number of users.
article ticket OONI report relay graph bridge graph |
| 2021-08-12 | ipv4 ipv6 |
geoip and geoip6 databases updated to "IPFire Project Thu, 12 Aug 2021 05:51:15 GMT" (geoip-db-digest B3A9770171D3060502B7F13C0618BE109B92DF6C, geoip6-db-digest 410B70763FC675B3622264FAA0FC67B78FDE30C2).
commit |
| 2021-08-08 | Ukraine Relays Unknown |
Large increase of relay users in Ukraine. Bridge users unaffected.
comment anti-censorship team discussion relay graph bridge graph |
| 2021-07-22 to 2021-07-31 | Turkmenistan Relays Unknown |
Decrease in relay users by 75% in Turkmenistan, following a period of elevated usage that began in early 2021.
ticket anti-censorship team discussion NTC thread |
| 2021-06-10 to present |
Experiment to test latencies between relays.
status.torproject.org post announcing start |
|
| 2021-06-04 to present | Nigeria |
Block of Twitter in Nigeria. Increase in the number of bridge users.
article relay graph bridge graph |
| 2021-04-01 to present | Myanmar |
Shutdowns of wireless broadband in Myanmar.
Access Now post |
| 2021-01-01 to present | China snowflake Unknown |
Increased failure to bootstrap using Snowflake from China.
comment |
| 2020-10-27 to present | Tanzania, United Republic of OR obfs4 |
Blocking of Tor and default obfs4 bridges during elections in Tanzania.
OONI report |
| 2019-06-21 to present | Myanmar |
Internet shutdown in parts of Myanmar.
report 2020 report |
| 2019-04-27 to present | Russia Relays Unknown |
Relay users increase by about 100K, in an apparent weekly cycle. Bridge users are not similarly affected.
relay graph bridge graph tor-talk thread Reddit thread |
| 2019-02-16 to present | Belarus Relays Unknown |
Increase of relay users in Belarus.
graph mailing list post |
| 2018-12-20 to present | Sudan |
Protests and social media blocks in Sudan.
relay graph Access Now post Psiphon users |
| 2018-09-26 to present | fte |
Outage of default FTE bridge 128.105.214.162:8080.
comment |
| 2018-09-26 to present | fte |
Outage of default FTE bridge 128.105.214.163:8080.
comment |
| 2018-07-28 to present | Turkey Relays Unknown |
Another jump of relay users in Turkey, from 5k to about 30k.
relay graph bridge graph |
| 2018-07-01 to present | Uganda |
A social media tax takes effect in Uganda. The government pressures ISPs to block VPNs.
relay graph bridge graph BBC article AllAfrica article OONI report |
| 2018-06-20 to present | Venezuela |
Venezuela's largest ISP, CANTV, blocks direct access to Tor and the IP addresses of default bridges. meek and non-default bridges are reported to work.
ticket mailing list post Access Now report |
| 2018-04-30 to present | Iran |
Iranian ISPs block Telegram.
ticket article relay graph bridge graph Psiphon users |
| 2018-01-05 to present |
Outage of the op-hk OnionPerf instance.
op-hk graph |
|
| 2017-12-04 to present |
DDoS attack creates load on the network.
tor-relays thread relay graph summary post ticket |
|
| 2017-08-07 to present | Congo, The Democratic Republic of the |
The Democratic Republic of the Congo orders a block of social media services.
article relay graph bridge graph |
| 2017-02-10 to present | OR exit |
Measurement error from bandwidth authority causes decrease in measured bandwidth in Europe.
mailing list post |
| 2016-12-15 to present | Congo, The Democratic Republic of the |
The Democratic Republic of the Congo orders a block of social media services.
article relay graph bridge graph |
| 2016-11-03 to present | Turkey |
Turkey blocks Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp.
article |
| 2016-10-25 to present | Egypt OR Relays |
Egypt blocks Tor directory authorities and public relays by TCP RST. Bridges work.
OONI report |
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