Does Proton Still Stand for Anything?

Proton's CEO Andy Yen, praised Trump on Twitter, and the company doubled-down in support of the Republicans and JD Vance. Here's why ditching "Swiss Neutrality" is a big problem for privacy.

Yesterday, Andy Yen, the CEO of Proton AG, the privacy-focused, Switzerland-based Gmail/Drive competitor, posted this absolute bollox post on Twitter:

Text reads: 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."

This, in turn, was followed by a series of equally tone-deaf posts from the proton.me account on Bluesky, which have since been deleted:

Wherein Proton (the company) doubles-down on singing the praises of the Republican party, and the VP, JD Vance as some sort of collective antitrust freedom fighters.

Naturally, what has followed was outrage, hurt, and for me at least, deep concerns about whether or not I should continue paying for a service that is openly supporting an authoritarian.

Now, some of you might be saying to yourselves, ‘So what? The CEO should be allowed to say what he wants!’. This is true — in the sense that the government cannot, and should not censor, prosecute, or target him for his speech, a position I continue to support. But I am not the government. And calling out repugnant points of view is precisely what free speech laws like the First Amendment, are designed to protect, notwithstanding Republican claims to the contrary. I’m not censoring Yen — I’m holding him to account.

Some of you might also be wondering ‘How is this any different than what Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, or the CEOs of Kraken or Coinbase are doing? Why are you holding Yen and Proton to a higher standard?’

The answer is simple: None of these companies (bar Apple, who I’m equally pissed at), give a shit about privacy, fundamental rights, or transparency. None of these companies claim to ‘fight for an open internet that promotes freedom of speech and freedom of information’. And none of these companies promise to protect the press and human rights organizations or defend against censorship.

Each of these CEOs are self-serving surveillance capitalists, and/or crypto libertarians. In short, this sort of political opportunism is unsurprising to me, because Trump is a purely transactional President, and the story of wealthy oligarchs sucking up to the dominant political power (authoritarian or otherwise) is one as old as time.

Trump Has Three Pursuits: And Privacy Ain’t One of Them

As Trump lacks any firm principles or beliefs, his political choices often seem chaotic and random. At least until one realizes that his ‘policies’ and choices are driven by three pursuits:

1. Things that will benefit Donald Trump directly.

2. Things that will benefit Trump’s friends, political benefactors, and allies (and therefore, indirectly benefit Trump).

3. Targeting and causing harm to Trump’s long and growing list of perceived and actual enemies.

That’s it. Every single policy decision Trump makes falls into one or more of these categories, which is why his policies seemingly change on a whim. Accordingly, it makes sense for the Big Tech oligarchs to take a positive, pro-Trumpian stance right now. They’re acting entirely out of self-interest and self-preservation. They’re desperate to stay off the enemies list.

But Andy Yen and Proton are unlikely to ever face Trump’s ire. Proton is a tiny company (in comparison to Google, Apple, or Microsoft), outside of the jurisdiction of the United States. They are unlikely to make it on Trump’s radar, much less his enemies list. There’s no risk of an antitrust action against them, nor any sort of TikTok-style crackdown (yet). Similarly, they are unlikely to benefit from any political favors he could possibly bestow.

Importantly, these sorts of ring-kissing exercises, there’s nothing that Proton can do that will meaningfully benefit Trump.

Wait, I take it back: There is one thing — they can throw all their principles and supposed ethical positions out the window. They can undermine commitments¹ to users, and disregard past promises of “Swiss Neutrality” in the hopes of currying favor with authoritarians. Above all, they can relax their rules, and their firm commitments to privacy, in the hope that they stay on the right side of a totalitarian regime.

I want to make a quick point on the “Swiss Neutrality” claim. In 2016, Andy Yen wrote a blog post examining Proton’s position on Trump’s first term, particularly concerns over the NSA and release of information to the US government. Yen took a much more nuanced position then:

Regardless of which side of the political spectrum you are on, Trump’s control over the NSA is now an indisputable fact, and we think it is worth taking a closer look at what this means. It is important to note that as a Swiss company which benefits from Swiss government support, Proton Mail follows the Swiss policy of neutrality. We do not take any position for or against Trump, nor any position for or against any particular country or government. We believe privacy is an universal value, so we do not take any sides. …

Privacy is a non-partisan issue, and we hope politicians around the world wake up to the fact that privacy is not only essential for democracy(new window), it is also critical for securing the growing digital economy. In the case of encrypted email services such as Proton Mail(new window), you even get better security in addition to the privacy. Privacy is a cause that we should all be able to unify behind, regardless of political beliefs.

He rightly pointed out that surveillance and the erosion of privacy is a problem on both sides of the political spectrum. He advocated for neutrality and prioritized Proton’s own technical efforts and organizational commitments. He did not sing the praises of Trump, or boot-lick JD Vance and the Republican Party. Neither he, nor Proton (the company) took a political stance. He could have taken a similar stance regarding the value of proactive antitrust enforcement — and kept politics out of it entirely.

But, by making this political, only a few days before the inauguration of a convicted felon, serial sex-offender, and insurrectionist, Yen (and Proton) have broken their pledge of neutrality. Given that firm break, it’s hard for me to not be concerned by what else they might cede over the next 4+ years.

So I have a question for Andy, and the company generally: To what end? What was your goal?

As a paying customer of Proton, I need to do a bit of serious soul-searching. I don’t know if I can trust this organization in the way that I did before, any more than I trust Twitter, Facebook, or Amazon. I no longer have accounts on these platforms, and if a pro-Trump agenda defines Yen & the company’s position going forward, I think it would be prudent to take my business elsewhere, to a service that actually honors its commitments.

Also, lest anyone have a doubt about where Yen stands: He’s firmly in Trump’s corner.

1. It is worth noting that these were details provided under court orders. While I understand that they are legally bound to comply, I do have questions on why the contested orders reported on their transparency report have dropped considerably between 2021-2022 and 2023. I also will keep my eyes out for 2024’s transparency numbers.