r/ProtonVPN • u/Secure_Trash_17 • May 13 '26
Discussion This is getting out of hand
I can't open a YouTube video in a new tab now without this shit popping up. I can't go to Google Search without having to see this crap. I can't read a news article without seeing this crap. It doesn't matter what server I'm using.
I used to use Mullvad, and honestly, it wasn't much better, so I'm not sure what to do.
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May 13 '26
[deleted]
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u/Tundor85 May 13 '26
Same for me, with VPN every website asks me to solve a captcha, it is so annyoing.
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u/InsectSmart5737 May 13 '26
Perfectly normal. They want to avoid crawling by bots. VPN usage is one of the red flags pointing to bot/virtual machine usage
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u/CosmicGoddess777 May 14 '26
They also do wanna make it harder for everyday people like us to have privacy though. They wanna give us as many hurdles as possible :/
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u/Caddark May 14 '26
"Everyone is out to get me" kind of thinking. I mean yeah, there are plenty of companies who want your data and therefore dont like giving you privacy, but they wouldn't push away a potential client just bc they will have a hard time collecting data from them. That would more likely push the user to not use their service or to go to a competitor than get them to give up their privacy.
It really is just because bots need to use vpns to not be identified as all coming from the same source, and since they cant tell if youre not a bot when you use a vpn, they need capatcha to make sure.
It really isnt some underhanded scheme with universal participation to make you give up your data, believe it or not. There are far more effective ways to convince people to give up their data than this.
tl;dr It really is just because of the bots.
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u/FlamingFlamingo32 May 15 '26
browsers still have cookies, websites can still track your sessions, theres so much more information that is there that can determine if its possibly a bot or just a user on a VPN. it has gotten a lot worse and is gonna get even worse. we all know why its happening, and its not because of crawlers or spiders.
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u/unclebogdan10 Windows | Android May 13 '26
Use this extension and make your life a lot better.
It works 4 out of 5 times.
https://github.com/dessant/buster
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u/No_Conclusion_8100 May 13 '26
hot take, all Google products are bad in several ways you understand and many more ways you don't. proton caters well to people who aren't self-hosting vpn internationally
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u/Grill_Only_Outside May 13 '26
I hate Google. They made some change to Gmail recently that ruined the experience on the iOS mail app. It routes every piece of mail I get to the “important folder”. Anytime I try to move emails to specific folders it always suggests “important”. Which means I need to spent 3x the time sorting emails. Which isn’t a big deal until unless you have to do this dozens of times a day- like I do.
I’m finally ready to move to proton mail. But changing my email on the dozens of services I’ve signed up for over the last 20 years is going to suck
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u/NewbieYoubie May 16 '26
You just do it overtime. If I get an email, then I go to the service and update it to proton. Eventually I won't get new emails in my gmail.
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u/Paprikasky May 14 '26
Tbf it's got its advantages, for now I only transferred the important stuff on the proton address so I know that the more urgent mails are there... And for all the smaller online accounts, I plan to change it to a personalized mail address each time so it's easier to know where exactly spam bots got your account from, etc.
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u/No_Clock2390 May 13 '26
if you're logged into youtube it shouldn't show you that. I never see that on youtube
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May 13 '26
[deleted]
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u/No_Clock2390 May 13 '26
I'm logged into youtube, on desktop, using brave browser. proton is connected. haven't seen it once. occasionally see it when i go to google.com
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u/arijitlive May 13 '26
That's unfortunate for you. Maybe the servers you connect are flagged in bulk. I connect to US East-Coast servers, and logged in YT account, and don't see this.
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u/kbeezie May 13 '26
I've yet to see it when on proton with my desktop on chrome or in my phone
I'll more likely see a cloudflare prompt from any other site before I see Google trying to check me.
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u/Coaxalis Linux | Android May 13 '26
this shit makes me nuts too. have to start hopping servers like a fucking rabbit.
but there is one interesting thing - I have a separate phone for Youtube only. No login. Something like kitchen tv - with free proton account. NEVER had to solve a single capture or confess i'm a human. Nor YT, neither google etc.
Weird.
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u/MiketheUnshaven May 13 '26
Same here, i use brave and search straight up blocks my searches when I'm using proton VPN, I have to hop all over.
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May 13 '26
[deleted]
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u/Coaxalis Linux | Android May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
I'm on GrapheneOS, pretty sure they are not getting any ID from my phone. And on my computer, linux, same robot confessions. Edit On computer only browser change helps. But I gotta cycle between them every time as well.
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May 13 '26
[deleted]
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u/Coaxalis Linux | Android May 13 '26
relax, there is a way to stop it and i use it every day. first - no google account internet wide. then a normal browser with built in defingerprinters, like brave, tor, librewolf, third - eveywhere, where you do not need to be logged in, use private browsing.
and last but not the least - grapheneOS and linux with 247 vpn.
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u/omega5959 May 13 '26
Yesterday any website i went to that had CloudFlare, refused to even load the page till i turned the VPN off!
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u/ninhibited May 14 '26
And if Google gives me the select the images captcha it just keeps going neverending.
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u/adobaloba May 13 '26
Gotta separate personal from private/incognito, have some convenience as well, balance.
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u/mrdibby May 13 '26
unless you're worried about Google tracking (or authorities asking Google to help track you) then just create a Google account then you won't be hassled after first log in
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u/cbloxham May 13 '26
How does one respond to that without being snarky.
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u/mrdibby May 13 '26
lol, don't hold back, feel free to state the obvious
but a lot of people aren't using VPNs for complete anonymity; some use it for safety from weaker networks or from entities less trustworthy than Google (I know, I know), or just spoofing their location
I'm not actually at a time in my life where I'm worried about Google tracking me while using their own products; maybe I'll get there one day
it would be nice if the widespread use of captcha wasn't such a good way of them circumventing the tracking blockers like ublock etc outside of their own websites; though i do see much less use of it these days and people opting for 3rd party captcha
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u/bloodguard May 13 '26
It's going to get worse. Google is rolling out their new reCaptcha where you have to use your phone to verify. Which blows the whole point of using a VPN if the site (and google) can verify your identity.
As of May 2026, Google's next-generation reCAPTCHA requires mobile verification (often via QR code) using Android devices with Google Play Services version 25.41.30 or higher, or iOS devices with version 15.0+. This update, part of Google Cloud Fraud Defense, targets bots but can block users on de-Googled phones, custom ROMs, or unsupported browsers, forcing a "check you're Google's customer" scenario rather than just "check you're human".
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u/Mysterio89 Jun 08 '26
Dang thats an unprecedented level of power and control over the entire internet. An all-knowing all-seeing mega-corporation that demands you identify yourself as a card-carrying google customer before you're allowed to use the internet.
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u/Zliit May 13 '26
Regarding Google search you could try Startpage.com it uses same index as Google but removes all the sponsored sections. Also does not track you.
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May 31 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Zliit May 31 '26
Well yes this is the drawback of it not profiling you and thus not giving results based on you the user. I generally like personalized results as I think they are better so I use Kagi that I am really happy with. Kagi however is not for everyone given one has to pay for it and searchengines gererally are, well, free to use (with some ads). As such I generally suggest Startpage as an easy alternative to Google since it is identical except for the privacy and profiling part.
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u/MoonGlissades May 13 '26
I use archive . ph a lot. If I want to add something with the VPN on, I get this captcha on repeat over and over. If the VPN is set to a city in the US, archive . ph won't even upload the link. If the VPN is set to New Zealand or Papua New Guinea, it will upload the link with those locations. But, I still have to do repeated captchas including picking the photos.
I clicked on your screenshot because I honestly thought I was getting a captcha again! LOL
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u/The_Duke28 May 13 '26
Huh... weird. I run a ProtonVPN and I only get those sometimes... Are you using the free version?
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u/Wind-charger May 19 '26
The first 10 us-ga servers wouldn’t work with YouTube. Had to keep looking a server to stream video, even though some say optimized for steaming , yet you can’t even load YouTube.
Between the unnervingly slow updates and americas bullshit… you can’t do fuck all online anymore.
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u/Sea_Click_872 Linux | Android May 13 '26
Just use duckduckgo for search and Freetube for desktop and newpipe for the phone.
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May 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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May 13 '26
[deleted]
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u/zesty-zucchini88 May 13 '26
CachyOS with proton unlimte as well. iphone 17PM... same issue as you.
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u/agx3x2 May 13 '26
just get a cloud server for yourself from any location you want and setup your own server. it wouldn't be more than 5bucks a month. and setting up a vpn server now days is easy as buying one
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u/Afraid-Expert-8974 May 13 '26
I'd love it if it was more ridiculously ironic with "I am a people."
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u/BrightAmbition2523 May 13 '26
Usa brave search invece di Google spazzatura che cerca di tracciarti in tutti i modi
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u/jrrocketrue May 13 '26
Yes, for me, ProtonVPN is only good for streaming, it is unusable unless you do anything shady and there, they don't really give a hoot.
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u/BlueCarbon Windows | iOS May 13 '26
Try using the Stealth protocol which should reduce the number of these you run into.
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u/Individual-Sport-458 May 13 '26
this shit be happening to me too I hate this shit when is this going to end and then the ones with you got to click what parts of the image are a bike etc etc I hate these things.
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u/RiskEnvironmental568 May 13 '26
idk, Firefox, or Helium, and ProtonVPN, just did a google search and watched some youtube videos without seeing any of this.
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u/ArtimusFay May 14 '26
Whats even worse is the click all the motor cycles trafic lights e.c.t that just take ages to work
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u/Affectionate_Cut3515 May 14 '26
The only way to solve this is to Self host an Ai that can answer your questions, self host thousands of videos, self host all of your work and get the news from newspaper
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u/MikeyPeters May 15 '26
I don’t have this issue anymore…maybe change your settings? Also, when I was having to prove myself, it was usually when I used US servers…but I noticed you said you have changed countries and are still having the problem…which leads to my next thought: Thirdly, if you’re using a Google based browser, that could be a browser issue not the VPN. Brave browser is an example of a Google based browser, I think.
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u/Magento-Magneto May 15 '26
I don't get this at all. I am logged into Google and other accounts though.
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u/brorow1 May 15 '26
It’s actually not that bad for me. I’ve been using Proton for over s year and hardly run into issues.
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u/Xannon99182 May 16 '26
It does matter which server you use. For example it with show up on YT if I'm using like US-GA#136 but if I switch to like US-GA#231 then videos will play without asking anything.
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u/D3c1m470r May 16 '26
Try german servers if you are in europe. For me they seem to be more tolerated for whatever reason - even discord and youtube is mostly blocking me if i go to ie slovakia, romania, hungary, etc smaller countries
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u/shawzymoto May 17 '26
If something gets requests from the same location thousands of times this is going to happen.
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u/ArtisticAbeyance May 18 '26
I think it's for the advertising. Targeted advertising is leads to an additional revenue stream. Without it they might charge more for the service.
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u/Meishajo0 May 18 '26
I cannot turn a page while browsing in Ebay without having to do this. Not sure what is going on.
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u/future_pirate May 21 '26
Use duckduckgo instead of Google which helps you avoid tracking anyways. For YouTube I find I encounter it less if I use Brave browser.
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u/jethrothegamer Jun 06 '26
I have ran into this on a few websites also, but like others have said, this issue isn't just limited to Proton VPN, other VPN's have similar issues, if not the same exact issue.
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u/zesty-zucchini88 May 13 '26
i stopped using proton alltogether. cant even game with it on its so bad laggy. and the captchas were the cherry on top.
whats a good VPN to use?
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u/TonyBlairsDildo May 13 '26
There is nothing you can do. VPN server IP address reputation is shit. People use Proton to spam and attack online services, so their IPs are shit-listed.
All Proton can realistically do is offer rapid-fire server switching and flag busted IPs.