this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2025
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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.

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[–] sudneo@lemm.ee 0 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/1i2nz9v/on_politics_and_proton_a_message_from_andy/m7hfhdh/

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.

[–] Croquette@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] sudneo@lemm.ee 1 points 1 hour ago

Oh no, he tagged trump (did he? Or did he reply to the tweet in which trump announced the antitrust pick?). This 1 second action changes everything. I am glad we have already moved the goalpost. Why tagging trump would change the context of his message it's really a mystery to me.

Look, for me it's simple. He has expressed himself in a way that was easy to misinterpret. He clarified his thoughts, I judge him for his thoughts.

You want to judge him for what you think he meant? By no means, go ahead. Just don't pretend it's a fact, because it's literally an opinion. A legitimate one, but still an opinion. The fact is that he said something and clarified that he meant something. Whether he is sincere or not is an opinion, but it doesn't change the fact.

For the rest I don't care to convince you or anybody else, I don't care of Andy Yen either. What I do care is people damaging one of the very few tech companies out there that are positive exceptions to a shitty industry. I think this is way worse than a tweet - even if it praised republicans in a general sense.

Besides this, I also hate this aesthetic of purity. MacCartysm in modern sauce.