A new study reveals that virtual private network (VPN) connections provide less safety than widely believed. The findings are alarming, especially for users in authoritarian states.
Instead, the authors recommend using paid VPNs, which are generally considered to be more reliable and secure. For example, no serious privacy or security issues were found with Lantern, Psiphon, ProtonVPN or Mullvad.
The issue seems to be with free VPNs.