Summary
Proton Mail, known for its privacy-first email services, faced backlash after CEO Andy Yen praised the Republican Party and its antitrust stance.
The company initially posted and deleted a statement supporting Yen’s comments, later claiming an “internal miscommunication” and reiterating its political neutrality.
Critics question Proton’s impartiality, particularly as it cooperates with Swiss authorities on legal data requests.
Privacy advocates warn that political alignments could undermine trust, especially for Proton’s users—journalists and activists wary of government surveillance under administrations like Trump’s.
Removed by mod
Due respect, your take is obtuse at best or you’re a shill. The company, with current leadership in place, just cannot come back from the first statement, it illustrates a fundamental detachment from objective reality, to the point that you’ve lost any and all credibility, permanently.
In a business based on trust, this is just so clear. Poop
Thank you for clarifying!
Good first post
Good catch. Someone else here in the comments detected a hint of astroturfing… perhaps they were onto something
Edit: they opened a Lemmy acct to make that post, fwiw
Same for me. Was it kind of stupid what the CEO said? Yes, sure, but who the fuck does not do that from time to time?
I also hate this mentality, that if you agree with a decision a party / person made, then that means you agree with everything they stand for. Bitch, no!
Nicely said.
I had my doubts, I mailed Proton and they responded with a statement Yen his opinion isn’t that of Proton, his comment while using the Proton account was a mistake which has been deleted and Proton changed to a foundation so no one, including a CEO like Yen, can change what Proton stands for.
Yep, a complete drama over nothing that got many people start a witch hunt. We already reached the point in which the guy is now a Nazi for having chosen a username with 88 in it, despite the fact that he is Taiwanese AND born in that year. Basically this is the well-meaning, internet vigilantes version of “bill gates injects 5g microchips with vaccines”.
It’s what happens when politics becomes faith.
Then here’s what Proton’s team said on Reddit
are you REALLY asking us to care about their PR damage control? They can literally cherry pick anything and say anything that’s true and try to tie it back into their argument. What stands is his initial heartfelt public statement.
Zero of the statement praises Trump or praises Republicans
Great pick by @realDonaldTrump . 10 years ago, Republicans were the party of big business and Dems stood for the little guys, but today the tables have completely turned. People forget that the current antitrust actions against Big Tech were started under the first Trump admin.On Twitter (your know, the fascist communication network)
Tagging Trump directly (ohh look at me, I’m a good boy, give me contracts, invite me over)
your definition of Zero and mine are WILDLY different.
I feel like I’ve read from hundreds of Lemmy users total agreement that the Democratic party
Yes, the standard far right argument, no no they’re both bad so this isn’t bad.
of the sad reality that Republicans with their very hard-on-Silicon-Valley rhetoric are more likely to actually
There it is, you’re not even going to sugar coat it, No no, the Republicans WHO ARE DISMANTLING DEI AND MEDIA FACT CHECKING
are going to
ctually reign in the big tech companies (more )than the Democratic party
GTFO, or at least come up with a half reasonable argument. That’s serious not even worth the time to post on…
TL;DR: storm in a teacup, I’ll be keeping my Proton mail account.
If you’re for real, (and I expect you’re just more damage control), sounds like you’re in a good place with like minded friends not worried at all about their safety.
p.s. yes this is my first Lemmy post.
Ahh so more damage control. Gotcha!
Their PR Department can do better
“Tagging Trump” because it was an answer (quote? Not sure what is the xitter term) to the tweer where Trump announced the pick for antitrust.
I do disagree with the person you are answering to, he did praise republicans. He did in a very narrow context and for specific (although opinable) reasons and he praised Trump for having made that specific pick.
Personally, I don’t see what the big deal is.
Thank you for the summary.
I knew interacting on Lemmy would be hard but… Common people! Downvoting for a “Thank You”? Reasonable doubt for pulsewidth?
Anyway, pulsewidth PMed me (and probably the other commenters under him) and I think he wanted to point out his good faith. He comes back on the praise point and admits his fault. He is a bit disappointed to have been straight up banned from [email protected] .
Lololololololololol, bad look.
How about literally right wing propaganda
Sir, this is Lemmy’s. We don’t allow reason here.
Look, reason my ass
I don’t get why anyone would stay on a site they thought reason wasn’t allowed at.
I’ve been frustrated several times at what I perceive as Lemmy bias that borders extremism, but on the whole it’s perfectly reasonable. Essentially every response to the parent comment agreed with it (I have yet to see someone disagree but perhaps I haven’t scrolled enough).
Lemmy isn’t big enough to feel you need to stay, as Reddit was when comments like this were plentiful.
It’s just an old lame internet joke.
Reason is fine, doesn’t mean everyone has to agree.
Nice try, fed.
If by reigning in big tech you mean a cartel style system where companies need to provide funds to Trump to continue existing, sure. But there is no chance that the Republicans will reign in big tech : they are big tech.
You are leaving out the part where Andy Yen said that the tables have turned and the Republicans are now the party of the small people.
Andy Yen’s statement is downright pathetic and misleading. People are right to stir up shit because that’s the only thing corpos understand.
This isn’t a storm in a tea cup, this is the CEO of a company telling us who he really is and people choosing to tell him to get fucked.
Your post reeks of astroturfing.
the Republicans are now the party of the small people
He didn’t. He clearly meant small tech in that context, opposed to big tech\monopolies. Not only this is the only interpretation that makes sense, but he said this himself in a clarifying (personal) reddit comment.
Stop bootlicking
From Andy Yen directly:
“[…]10 years ago, Republicans were the party of big business and Dems stood for the little guys, but today, the tables have completely turned.”
There is no place for interpretation here, the message is clear. If he wants to back pedal because he got slinged shit, so be it, but it doesn’t detract from the fact that he said that the Republicans are now the party of the small guys.
Stop spreading misinformation
I will quote his own words:
Unfortunately that was misinterpreted. If you go back to the original tweet in question, it is clear from the context that that is about “little tech” vs "big tech
I know we are in the internet in 2025, and nobody has the right to clarify their opinion anymore, one strike and you are out, but still.
To me it was obvious from the context to be honest, without even needing his own explanation (that you call backpedaling because good faith is never assumed). But then again, I was not looking for reasons to be outraged.
It’s hilarious though that reporting the authors own thoughts you call misinformation. Instead drawing your own conclusions that are explicitly denied by that person is supposedly objective. If there are no more rules of logic then everything goes.
Also this is not bootlicking, it’s just a timid defense of rationality in the face of people building castles in the air.
Yeah because cozying up buddy buddy with Trump is a castle in the air.
It’s not like the guy was cooked on the spot and spouted an incohenrent sentence.
The guy took the time to tag Donald Trump to show him how he’s not like the other girls , wrote out his message and thought that this was good enough to press send.
There is a lot of deliberate actions that leads to this and takebacksies are a lot more difficult to justify.
In that case, there is a little space for interpretation and Andy Yen is clearly in damage control.
It is not little joe from Arkansas owning a potato farm tweeting that shit, it’s the CEO of a supposedly “neutral” company, that deals in privacy, tagging his buddy Trump. Shit like that can’t get a pass.
Lucky for him, there are enlightened people like you that loves the smell of fresh polish directly from the boot.
Sure hope their praises don’t include giving your data to their heroes
They would hand over your liver for an atta-boy and a small government contract.
My renewal of proton VPN is entirely dependent on who the ceo is when it’s time for me to renew.
If fuckface is still there, I’ll move on.
I’m fickle that way.
I strongly recommend Mullvad. Exceptional performance, wireguard support and if you’re really paranoid about anonymity you can literally send them money via post.
The number of places I can do business with is dropping drastically. I’m going to have to start making my own clothes in the near future.
Same at this point. I just paid for the year in November.
Same plan here, bought Mail Plus for a year back in May. Although if they decide to enshittify everything before May I’ll just bail early.
My stance on Proton is my stance on GrapheneOS: just because the creator is bad doesn’t mean the software is bad. As long as the software is better compared to the alternatives then I seen no reason to stop using it.
Note: better can mean more privacy-friendly, cost-friendly, sustainable, nice to use, open, etc.
Oddly enough, I found the opposite to be true with companies like Nestle: the news of them killing children makes me dislike their chocolates.
My stance on Proton is my stance on GrapheneOS: just because the creator is bad doesn’t mean the software is bad. As long as the software is better compared to the alternatives then I seen no reason to stop using it.
I think the major difference is that for a software package or operating system like GrapheneOS, theoretically people can audit the code and verify that it is secure (of course in practice this is not something that 99% of people will ever do). So to some extent, you technically don’t have to put a ton of trust into the GrapheneOS devs, especially with features like reproducible builds allowing you to verify that the software you’re running is the same software as the repository.
For something like Proton where you’re using a service someone else is running, you sort of have to trust the provider by default. You can’t guarantee that they’re not leaking information about you, since there’s no way for you to tell what their servers are doing with your data. Accordingly, to some extent, if you don’t trust the team behind the service, it isn’t unreasonable to start doubting the service.
This is where audits come into place. Currently Proton only made the result of their security audit public, but you can also get an accounting firm to audit the privacy statement. Not endorsing them or anything, but PureVPN has been audited by iirc Deloitte on their privacy statement. I have verified this a couple year by then sharing the conclusion of the report from Deloitte with signature.
Proton should do something similar and yearly and could have a lot more faith in them. An accountant isn’t going to risk his career for something like Proton’s privacy statement. At least I would hope not
The Porton Foundation is also the majority owner of the company these days which makes it a bit harder to do whatever you wish with the company
I don’t know much about the creator of GrapheneOS. What’s the bad about them? I know they’re a little dogmatic, as security/FOSS folk can sometimes be, but I’ve not heard anything beyond that.
This reddit thread has a nice summary
To save others a click
From [deleted]
Wow, this is big news. My feelings are very conflicted on this.
I think it is important to recognize both that:
- He has (and hopefully will continue to) contribute greatly and meaningfully to privacy, security, and user control/autonomy over our devices and our data greatly. More than most people ever will. The work he has done with Graphene and with Copperhead before that have benefited us all. He has made great technical contributions to Privacy on Android and is a talented developer and deserves recognition and respect for that, I’m certain it was not always easy and often very thankless job. If he chooses to leave the project, losing his experience, knowledge, and dedication is a huge loss.
- And at the same time, he often behaved in unacceptable ways, is an extremely socially abrasive and often acted in ways that were not stable nor constructive, and saw anyone that wasn’t 100% deferential to him as an enemy out to get him and get grapheneOS. Many of us have personal experiences with this, and there are a couple well documented controversies as well. He did a lot for the project technically speaking and its existence is thanks mostly to him, but he also did a lot to push people away and alienate and bully people for the small things, perceived slights, or even technical disagreements, and overall contributed to a toxic and hostile culture in the sub community that harmed both the project and his own mental health. We all struggle in certain regards, and I truly and earnestly hope that he seeks the help he needs, or just takes a breather, and re-engages with the project in a more positive and healthy way. None of us are defined by just one aspect of ourselves, we are the sum of all parts, some good, some bad.
We should be able to acknowledge the good and the bad and not rush to paint a black and white picture in either extreme.
All I could tell from my recent search into FOSS Android OS’s is that they shit on competetitors like crazy. It’s pretty funny, albiet concerning, to see the official Reddit account bash on the competition.
I cannot fathom being that stupid to believe that Republicans are anti-monoploy when they give huge corporation massive tax breaks and removes barriers for mega mergers
Good news for them, I’m “financially neutral”
Maaaan, what the fuck?!?
deleted by creator
I thought hosting your own mail server was difficult cause you need to be trusted by the incumbet mail providers or get blocked by them.
Thank you for sharing this
The sort of Swiss neutrality that doesn’t care whose teeth the gold is from.
Reason n1 why I never use Swiss services.
Oh ffs, I just made the move to Proton with some stuff a few months ago. I’m really keen on switching the address out on a load of accounts.
And today I got an email saying they’re donating a million dollars to support non-profits for privacy and freedom. Timing, timing, timing.
I think at this point in the USA it’s very clear:
If you’re “politically neutral”, you’re Republican.
I (and very many others) may not agree with the democrats, but since we only got two parties there, it’s damage-control. And any sane person (that would like to have a non-dystopian future) votes against Trump…
they’re Swiss
Yes, I know, I’m also not from the USA from a “neutral” state (Austria)…
Actually, especially if you’re European, even the democrats are more right-leaning, i.e. comparable with the conservative parties here.
No one is actually politically neutral…
Ok Trumper.
What did he mean by this
Neutrality only ever helps the aggressors. Hitlers Europe strategy was predicated on the Swiss doing nothing in response to the annexation of Austria and occupation of France.
Yeah this is a masks off moment for them and people better be paying attention!
With this president flattery will get you everything. If you don’t publicly praise him he will come for you and your users.
I am not saying that I love the endorsement, I do understand it.
Proton is based in Switzerland. If anything, I get the message that the only services that are Trump-proof are based in China or France, because everybody else has lost their fucking mind.
Services in China may be Trump-proof, but they’re sure as shit not CCP-proof.
They are not acting like a bunch of unpredictable religious lunatics tho. So as long as I don’t mention Tianammen Square I should be 👍
But he has absolutely no reason to do so. That’s like VPNs bowing to Trump.
The lack of risk, especially when the average Proton user is actively looking for privacy/security from tech companies who bow to government, makes this endorsement even more sinister than it should be.
The only way to get rid of those bastards is to never comply with any pressure they bring to bear, short of literally pointing a gun at you. Kissing the ring makes you one of the enablers.
He literally had to say nothing at all lol
I can see this for like Apple or Google, but…
Proton?
What beef could Trump and conservative influencers possibly have with it? And even if they did, it’s not even an American company, it’s Swiss.
