Mexican government partially unblocks secure internet

This is a guest post from our friends at Global Voices.

Across at least the last two six-year presidential terms in Mexico, and through the first year of the current administration, access to the federal government's primary websites for information and public services over the Tor network was blocked.

A study by the authors of this article published October 9, 2023, reports that 21 government agencies blocked access from the Tor network. The blockage was partially lifted in the first days of July 2025.

The Tor network is used by millions of users daily to securely access the internet, safeguard their right to information and free speech, and evade censorship or government surveillance. In Mexico, an estimated 20 thousand people use it, according to data published by the Tor Project.

In Mexico, Tor has been adopted by civil society organizations and collectives, including the implementation of anonymous mailboxes in journalistic outlets and digital safeguards in human rights advocacies.

Under the previous administration, the Mexican government acknowledged the benefits of using Tor for the purposes of combating corruption. It established a mailbox for the Ministry of the Civil Service using Tor. Thus, the government established a regulatory framework which acknowledges the need to guarantee anonymity for whistleblower activities within the civil service. A notice published in the Official Gazette of the Federation stated:

Safeguarding confidentiality: [...] is an obligation for all persons assigned to the Bureau[;] the Coordinator General, assisted by the Coordinator, shall supervise, control, and evaluate all activities of the System [to ensure that] they guarantee anonymity of whistleblowers and information, taking the measures they deem necessary, and shall implement actions for improvement in furtherance of such efforts.

The administration of [former] President Enrique Pena Nieto (2012-2018) did not acknowledge the blockage, whereas under Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (2018-2024) the government acknowledged that it maintained the blockage and explained that it did so for security reasons.

(...) protective measures are taken, such as blocking network traffic considered malicious, automated, or potentially threatening, which affects users of the Tor network, since its very nature makes it impossible to distinguish between ordinary and automated users, which is considered a risk to gob.mx, for which reason access over that network is restricted.

Juan Carlos Guerrero Torres, Director of Legal Analysis and Document Management in the president's office, which is responsible for digital strategy and the development of lines and operation of digital infrastructure, replied to Global Voices.

Regarding this response, the Tor Project, through its spokesman Pavel Zoneff, informed us that there are workarounds which show that it is possible to achieve a balance between minimizing risks for both users and websites without denying internet access to parties that depend on the Tor network. In his words:

"Blocking entire sections of the internet based on the outdated belief that all traffic from the Tor network is indistinguishable or malicious is a mistake and puts people at risk. There are many ways for websites to defend against threats such as DoS attacks, bots, and other malicious actions without isolating a significant part of the global online community." Zoneff

Current administration reverses policy

On the other hand, on May 6, the current administration under President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo declared that it has no policy position or documented justification to block access by Tor users to the website www.gob.mx. As (sic) stated by Gabriela Ignacio Vazquez, Coordinator of Digital Infrastructure and Liaison for Transparency of the National Bureau of Digital Infrastructure in the Digital Transformation Agency, responsible for orienting the relevant policy.

On July 5, in the course of routine monitoring for research purposes, we confirmed that the block on www.gob.mx had been lifted. Thus, it is now possible to access the Mexican government's primary information site -and by extension information from the different government agencies concentrated there- from the Tor network.

However, we also found that datos.gob.mx maintains the blockage, and the whistleblower mailbox, which previously admitted support for Tor users, was disabled and replaced with the SIDEC platform, which does not permit access from the Tor network.

To learn more about Global Voices' coverage of digital rights, internet freedom, and online privacy issues around the world, visit Global Voices.