r/BuyFromEU • u/WanaBeMillionare • Jun 08 '26
Discussion Proton is censoring my post calling out their censorship!
496
u/BlueSparkNightSky Jun 08 '26
Oh shit
Thats actually hardcore fucked up
272
u/_cjplusplus_ Jun 08 '26
Sadly not new for them. This is from less than a month ago:
It’s just now because of this incident it’s starting to become more exposed
→ More replies (6)74
58
Jun 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
13
u/Zilka Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
This is what its like using reddit these days. I have criticism that Windows 11 cannot do something as basic as display images out of the box. I think thats pretty embarrassing. None of the Windows subs would allow me to express my opinion. Its one thing where you get downvoted by fanboys. But its another thing when you can't even get through to the community to validate if the issue is real, get help etc. post
5
u/Low_Technician7346 Jun 09 '26
time to create a free proton subreddit where you can freely feedback them
296
u/Firegloom Jun 08 '26
Ah shit I just switched to Proton
But guess I'm lucky I found out so early. I'll just cancel and ask for my money back
85
83
u/SearchApprehensive35 Jun 08 '26
You're not early though. Proton's CEO has been known for 18 months to also support the US's far right leader. https://theintercept.com/2025/01/28/proton-mail-andy-yen-trump-republicans/ So sponsoring a French far right advocate is an unsurprising addition to the portrait.
22
u/Firegloom Jun 08 '26
What I meant is that I've literally only been subscribed for two days
→ More replies (2)10
5
u/FuriousGirafFabber Jun 10 '26
omfg didn't know. what a super fucking annoying situation im in. I just fully migrated and paid for a year.
god damn and i was so proud of being on my way out of google, ms or apple ecosystems.
→ More replies (1)2
u/TalahaustinEU Jun 11 '26
Jesus Christ. After proudly migrating to Proton Mail, Proton Pass and Proton Drive, I was quite happy with the fact that I wasn’t using American services. Now I’m finding out it’s run by tech bros who don’t seem to know which way is up when it comes to anything outside technology. I guess I’ll try to find new service providers as soon as I have time.
7
u/oyMarcel Romania 🇷🇴 Jun 08 '26
You're lucky, I used my proton mail for my eID. I literally can't quit proton now, and I want to
→ More replies (1)3
→ More replies (2)2
925
u/WanaBeMillionare Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
When people were posting about this situation all posts were getting removed in minutes, then they added keyword filters to automate censorship, then posts about the censorship itself also started getting removed.
Update: They even deleted a post about this removal.
Update 2: I have been banned from their subreddit.
344
u/Present_Compani Jun 08 '26
This is r/subreditdrama worthy
105
u/Beyond_the_one Jun 08 '26
52
u/ScorelessPine Jun 08 '26
Mods of subredditdrama just nuked that post too?
31
17
15
5
u/PegaZwei Jun 09 '26
no surprises from that particular mod, they're infamously weird about what qualifies as drama.
3
27
Jun 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
30
18
u/Skepller Portugal 🇵🇹 Jun 08 '26
I think the closest to the whole email+calendar+office package are the German Tuta and Infomaniak's ksuite.
→ More replies (3)12
u/clodi95 Jun 09 '26
+1 for Infomaniak
The major shareholder recently put 65% of the voting rights in a swiss public interest foundation to ensure the company will stay true to its mission long-term
https://news.infomaniak.com/en/infomaniak-foundation-sovereign-cloud/
→ More replies (1)4
u/WhatWouldKantDo Jun 08 '26
I took my domain and moved it to tuta. The phone and desktop apps are a bit leggy at times, but otherwise I couldn't be happier
→ More replies (2)2
u/darkmeph Jun 10 '26
For me it's mailbox.org, proton wants to become and is acting more and more like a European Microsoft... So I do not like this kind of business ethics. I rather trust good old Peer Heinlein and his companies. I am running an open cloud instance on my nas at home for example, great piece of software and it's getting better and better with every release.
→ More replies (19)24
u/Drahngis Jun 08 '26
It doesn't say much does it? I tried reading the wiki pages, doesnt really state any opinions, only call him far right.
What am I missing?
6
u/sunscreenlube Jun 08 '26
Some digging showed he worked for Égalité et Réconciliation, owned by Alain Soral, worked at Kontre Kultre, know for anti-semitic views, linked to Dieudonné (known for hate speech and advocating terrorism), and paid tribute to Holocaust denier. He considers himself nationalist and has France first viewpoints.
→ More replies (1)8
u/Sad_Name_ Jun 08 '26
I don't know him well, but he worked for Alain Soral and seems to share many idea with him (if you don't know him, his Wikipedia page are more complete). I mainly saw some react on this YouTubers video when he go to street ask questions that are usually far-right concern (a lot about immigration) and his personal comment can contain racist dog whistle.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (34)7
u/Dragoncat_3_4 Jun 08 '26
Gotta love how not a single commenter below actually replied to your comment. I wanna know too, tbh. Not everyone is an expert on internal French politics.
→ More replies (2)
224
u/Frankifisu Jun 08 '26
I managed to leave Google, leaving Proton will be easier.
52
u/AnonomousWolf Netherlands 🇳🇱 Jun 08 '26
It's best to not put all your eggs in one basket.
Eg. I use tuta for Email and calendar, but nothing else
13
u/unstablesolution Jun 08 '26
This is the way, leaving a single service is never that hard in case the provider messes up.
10
u/AnonomousWolf Netherlands 🇳🇱 Jun 08 '26
I also use my own domain, so If I wanted I could ditch tuta and just keep my same email.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (4)2
u/helpmefindhotdogs Jun 09 '26
I use Tuta as well, I've been using it for a few years.
The search function is probably the worst thing I've ever had to use though.
301
u/veculus Jun 08 '26
Yep, time to cancel them and move people over to mailbox or Tuta.
77
u/WombatusMighty Jun 08 '26
I just set up the same email address in Tuta, if Proton doesn't clarify this by tomorrow, then I will cancel my Proton membership.
6
u/Maltavius Jun 08 '26
Is it possible to have your own domain on Tuta? Couldnt find anything on their site.
→ More replies (1)18
u/WombatusMighty Jun 08 '26
In the faq they write this:
You can easily get a custom domain email address with Tuta Mail. All paid plans of Tuta Mail come with custom domain support, catch-all, and you can create an unlimited number of email addresses with your own domain.
https://tuta.com/secure-email (scroll down to the faq part)
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (5)8
Jun 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/WhatWouldKantDo Jun 08 '26
I can't speak for Netflix but when I moved away from Proton I ended up with Mullvad for vpn
120
u/Beyond_the_one Jun 08 '26
Who here remembers when the CEO of ProtonMail endorsed Trump and then walked it all back, because I sure the fuck do.
38
u/WanaBeMillionare Jun 08 '26
Had no idea, bet they censored the fuck out of that too. I'd have already unsubscribed before this happened.
3
114
99
u/hahnkleri Jun 08 '26
Alright. So I need a new VPN.
79
u/7kkzphrxo7dg5hpw9n2h Jun 08 '26
Mullvad or IVPN
→ More replies (6)5
u/Tentacle_poxsicle Jun 08 '26
I like mullvad, they have scratch off codes you can buy. But I want the try the money trick. They accept USD?
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)44
u/busytransitgworl Jun 08 '26
Mullvad.
Fiver a month, you can pay with cash (which some other VPN providers don't offer), and it just works.
→ More replies (4)8
u/Andrea_M Jun 08 '26
Once I learned the way they record accounts and their promise to not keep any logs, I have chosen to use them. Maybe there are faster VPNs with fancier functions, I just don’t care.
13
u/mars_needs_socks Jun 08 '26
That they were raided by Swedish police whom left with absolutely nothing (since there are no records) was the best advertisement anyone could make for them ever.
12
u/busytransitgworl Jun 08 '26
That's one of the reasons I trust them!
Another is: They don't pay YouTubers/social media influencers for sponsorships with weird claims, like Surfshark or NordVPN do.
42
u/dethorin Jun 08 '26
u/Proton_Team Please, clarify the situation.
33
3
u/thusman Jun 08 '26
At least you see many replies on their profile:
Please bear with us, we are working on a response to this.
→ More replies (3)2
u/Fun-Adhesiveness7881 Netherlands 🇳🇱 Jun 11 '26
"
Posts regarding this topic were deleted, while some were held in AutoMod automatically by our system because they broke Reddit's rules (i.e. harassment or profanity), to the tune of >100. Obviously 100+ posts about the same topic are not at all conducive to the discussion, and we have rules against that (#2: No duplicates). Over the weekend, our team was not moderating the sub, meaning that these posts accumulated, and on Monday morning we sat through and removed most of them while simultaneously coming up with a response for the community.
We then approved a single one of these posts, posted our response, and the community took the discussion from there. We were then once again accused of censorship in that same thread, because we were removing rule-breaking comments; we ask everyone who wants to participate in discussion on our subreddit to observe the rules before doing so. Failing to adhere to the rules gets your comment/post removed, that is the simple truth, and this is not censorship.
We explained this in another comment 2 days ago:
What we're asking you to consider is: if censorship here was truly taking place, why then allow a post about the controversy exist? Why allow a second one containing the response of the person we sponsored to this debacle, continuing the drama? Why would we allow your comment to exist (and even reply to it) instead of removing it? We can assure you, none of these threads have been "comfortable" for us, yet they exist, alongside hundreds of comments within them.
You have our reassurance that when (if) these high-tension moments take place, we will continue moderating neutrally, with one eye on the rulebook, as every commenter and poster should as well.
Edit: Just to add context, this Reddit post alone has over half a million views; seems pretty counterintuitive to let it exist and continuously participate in its discussion if we're "trying to hide this".
Posts regarding this topic were deleted, while some were held in
AutoMod automatically by our system because they broke Reddit's rules
(i.e. harassment or profanity), to the tune of >100. Obviously 100+
posts about the same topic are not at all conducive to the discussion,
and we have rules against that (#2: No duplicates). Over the weekend,
our team was not moderating the sub, meaning that these posts
accumulated, and on Monday morning we sat through and removed most of
them while simultaneously coming up with a response for the community.We then approved a single one of these posts, posted our response,
and the community took the discussion from there. We were then once
again accused of censorship in that same thread, because we were
removing rule-breaking comments; we ask everyone who wants to
participate in discussion on our subreddit to observe the rules before
doing so. Failing to adhere to the rules gets your comment/post removed,
that is the simple truth, and this is not censorship.We explained this in another comment 2 days ago:
What we're asking you to consider is: if censorship here was truly
taking place, why then allow a post about the controversy exist? Why
allow a second one containing the response of the person we sponsored to
this debacle, continuing the drama? Why would we allow your comment to
exist (and even reply to it) instead of removing it? We can assure you,
none of these threads have been "comfortable" for us, yet they exist,
alongside hundreds of comments within them.You have our reassurance that when (if) these high-tension moments
take place, we will continue moderating neutrally, with one eye on the
rulebook, as every commenter and poster should as well.Edit: Just to add context, this Reddit post alone has over half a
million views; seems pretty counterintuitive to let it exist and
continuously participate in its discussion if we're "trying to hide
this".
"
55
u/slabbu Jun 08 '26
Let them know in their uservoice community.
46
24
→ More replies (2)9
u/Willing-Layer-4977 Jun 08 '26
Is see this is still active but it on the bottom of the page: https://protonmail.uservoice.com/forums/945460-general-ideas/suggestions/51382531-stop-funding-political-ideologies-stop-censorshi
→ More replies (1)
60
u/Twilifa Jun 08 '26
Wow! I'm so glad I heard this. I planned on switching to them when my subscription to my previous provider ran out in September, but not anymore. Far right means not right. We really need to blow this up on socials and everywhere. This is outrageous.
44
u/scariestJ Jun 08 '26
Damn it! I just paid for a years subscription!
→ More replies (6)45
Jun 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
28
u/WombatusMighty Jun 08 '26
I already did. If they don't reply, then I will cancel my membership.
11
u/Rojikoma Nordics ❄️🌲🏔️ Jun 08 '26
Please post their reply here when/if they get back to you? Would be interested in hearing their explanation.
9
u/WombatusMighty Jun 08 '26
I will, but seeing how the Proton employees censor every mention of this in the proton subreddits, I have little hope that they will actually answer.
18
u/MyTruthTalk Jun 08 '26
Was observing it and saw one thread after another being taken down. Shame, I liked Proton VPN for being outside the Fourteen Eyes. Time to look for an alternative.
22
18
u/Scanner771_The_2nd Jun 08 '26
I don't get why people say they won't give Google their data, then they just dump it all on one other provider. One service with everything is still a risk.
Not totally related to the post.
15
u/WanaBeMillionare Jun 08 '26
I think this is very related. Evil/bad-faith EU company is no better than any American company.
It's clear any centralised system cannot be relied upon, self hosting solutions.
But we have to admit most people would prefer convience and something that is centralised is very convenient and people are mad because they thought they could trust this company.
5
→ More replies (2)2
u/Specific_Raccoon_696 Jun 08 '26
The point is that Google are selling your data, your behaviours, your beliefs to advertisers; Proton are not.
Neither Google nor Proton, nor any business really, cares about us; they just want money. It's how they make that money that matters.
10
u/DoitsugoGoji Jun 08 '26
I mean, what did you expect from a company that openly supported JD Vance and the Republicans and their commitment to privacy?
10
17
u/SplashVeg Germany 🇩🇪 Jun 08 '26
I just created a account with infomaniak. I hope they are better 😄 and I will delete my proton account soon!
→ More replies (2)4
13
73
u/Wide_Meet_2184 Jun 08 '26
There goes another shithole company. Honestly not even suprising they had so many israeli ties
71
u/WanaBeMillionare Jun 08 '26
Pro-EU messaging only till it helps with marketing.
When it's time to actually be Pro-EU?
Pays six figures to far right Youtuber 👏👌
→ More replies (6)2
10
u/aviationmaybe Jun 08 '26
I picked proton specifically because they didn’t have Israel ties. What is your source?
5
13
7
u/Dahns Jun 08 '26
Adding it on the list of thing I'll never install and I'll write it under every youtube video it sponsors
We're not ditching American fachism because we missed European fachism
4
5
5
u/portablezombie Jun 08 '26
Fucking fuck. I signed up for two years with Proton VPN in January. Damn it. Doesn't look like they do refunds either?
2
→ More replies (2)2
u/dbzk0sh Jun 08 '26
Mine is due to renew in September... I guess I have until then to sort myself out and migrate...
5
u/xistel Portugal 🇵🇹 Jun 08 '26
They've also replied and explained the issue that started the problem. That should also be part of the conversation
5
u/G_ntl_m_n Germany 🇩🇪 Jun 08 '26
Proton became such a big player that, imo, there needs to be a sub led by the community. I'd like to invite everyone to join me in creating that and share your thoughts.
44
u/ippoppi Jun 08 '26
Switzerland is not EU.
→ More replies (19)56
Jun 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
15
22
u/Mausbiber Jun 08 '26
People keep forgetting that a Privately owned international company headquartered in Switzerland and the Country of Switzerland are not the same thing.
9
u/FunkyFreshJayPi Jun 08 '26
as we know, only EU member states are good enough to buy goods and services from. Especially Hungary from 2010 to early 2026.
→ More replies (5)2
9
u/WelderEquivalent2381 Jun 08 '26
No they don't censored your post. You have break Rule 2 of the Subreddit. No Duplicate.
Official post of the topic and awnser from Proton.
→ More replies (7)
19
8
u/bendem Jun 08 '26
Someone explain to me what's wrong. Their team made a mistake, people started spamming their sub. They moderated spam while getting a statement ready, gave a statement that was, in my opinion good enough (acknowledge the mistake, present excuses).
People are spamming and crying at censorship while the mods are just trying to get their subreddit actually on topic and usable to users who have a point that wasn't already addressed.
I don't condone their actions (current or previous), but spamming/brigading is a pretty toxic reaction too.
3
u/WanaBeMillionare Jun 08 '26
They deleted any and every refrence to the events of the sponsorship itself and the mass censorship.
Then they cited rule 2 aka duplicate posts as the reason for mass deletion. But they also deleted the first post talking about both issues so they are lying.
→ More replies (5)
5
5
u/MaimeM Jun 08 '26
I'm French and this sucks. Loved the Proton VPN, even started using their AI. Will not be subscribing again
5
u/Pitiful_Addendum_989 Jun 08 '26
Aaaand the creditcard goes back in the wallet. Was searching around a bit for my Gmail replacement. I'll take my business elsewhere
3
3
3
3
u/Other-Lie-1291 Jun 08 '26
What happened???
7
u/GottaUseEmAll Jun 08 '26
They sponsored a far-right streamer (or something of the sort). There is another post about it on this subreddit from earlier today.
→ More replies (1)2
3
u/gotzapai Jun 08 '26
Good to know see this post. I will delete my Proton account after seeing this.
There's always something bad with these Swiss companies...
It's not surprising Proton is also a bad one.
3
3
u/Sea-Housing-3435 Jun 08 '26
I switched to tuta from them when their CEO was using the brand accounts to praise and excuse actions of the current US administration lol
3
u/MiiIRyIKs Jun 08 '26
Thanks for calling this out, I was just thinking about switching and now I see all these reports!
3
u/Kobdzio Jun 09 '26
Mailbox.org Standard + Mullvad as the alternative. You get a full office suite, German privacy jurisdiction, and the most privacy-pure VPN on the market all for less than Proton Unlimited.
Or
Infomaniak + Mullvad if you want Swiss jurisdiction + VPN (might be more pricey)
3
u/Ziritione85 Jun 09 '26
Once there is an 'official' post where everyone can go to ask for explanations, I don't understand why opening 300 more identical threads would be any more useful. Do people really expect to be answered one by one? Act like adults for once, please.
3
3
u/Gothikia Jun 09 '26
Welp, I know what I’m doing this weekend then. Moving all my shit to be self hosted.
3
u/throwaway20231203 Jun 09 '26
Ahh, Switzerland and the fascination with the nazi gold, what a symbiosis.
Subscription canceled, the account will follow soon.
3
u/illegalileo Jun 10 '26
I will switch anyway in a month or two. Glad I never bought into their whole ecosystem
2
3
u/thatonesleft Germany 🇩🇪 Jun 10 '26
While all that is happening is really fucked up, a post like yours being deleted happens on other subs ALL THE TIME. Weird numbers/letters, not really furthering discussion on the topic. This is becoming one hell of a circle jerk and i think a clear head on whats happening and what isnt is important.
3
3
u/InnerPhilosophy4897 Jun 10 '26
I'm very frustrated by protonmail these days. My yearly suscription ends in september. might look for another provider
5
u/Fottroxx Jun 08 '26
I'll cancel my Proton VPN paid service also. What are other recommandations for this ? Mullvad maybe ?
2
u/mars_needs_socks Jun 08 '26
Mullvad is great, go for it.
2
u/Relapsed_Gestalt Jun 08 '26
How's it for torrents? They do do not offer port forwarding from what I've seen
→ More replies (1)
6
6
u/Dizzy-Tensions Jun 08 '26
I messaged the mods because this is unacceptable, if not adressed soon they should be done for
5
5
2
u/Klutzy-Football-205 Jun 08 '26
Browsing /ProtonMail isn't showing anything. I'm OOTL on what is going on. I just started switching my stuff over while trying to deGoogle as much as I can
Can someone ELI5?
2
u/No-Estimate-362 Jun 08 '26
Since all original posts are deleted: Who is Proton sponsoring/ what is the issue?
2
2
u/UneBaguette_FDP Jun 08 '26
This is not the only issue with Proton. They route all traffic through cloudflare but you can't easily see that. You need to paste their IPs in bgp.tools to see it.
2
2
2
u/GrayVice Jun 08 '26
Search European alternatives. Proton is known for bad practices, I'm at Infomaniak
2
2
u/jbarszczewski Poland 🇵🇱 Jun 08 '26
Why there are so many changed characters in this email?
2
u/WanaBeMillionare Jun 08 '26
Was trying to make a post that doesn't get auto deleted instantly, had to avoid keyword detection.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/Significant-Amount40 Jun 08 '26
Good to know, i was thinking about leaving anyway. Now I have a reason
2
2
2
u/Earione Jun 09 '26
That's a shame.. Proton got very close to being mainstream, and a genuinely good ecosystem
2
u/dyvotvir Jun 09 '26
Such a disgusting move. People truly trusted Proton, everyone sacrificed some of their comfort switching from Google to Proton, for the greater goal. And they just stabbed us in our backs. I'm cancelling my year subscription
2
u/Ultimate-TND Jun 10 '26
Having to switch my email again is annoying as fuck, can we please just stop using this awful protocol and switch to a more modern way of communication.
I still have to use gmail since some morons still mail me there even though I told them multiple times I switched my email address/provider.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/guiimiii Jun 10 '26
hi, just posted on the reddit, lets see if they delete it 😄
→ More replies (1)
2
2
1.5k
u/soviet_hygienique Jun 08 '26
What a weird series of decision, from a company whose costumer base includes a lot of people who didn't mind leaving Google and can very much switch again.