this post was submitted on 20 May 2026
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• Proton VPN has hit back at Canada's proposed Bill C-22

• The proposed legislation could require VPNs to log user metadata

• NordVPN and Windscribe have also slammed the bill

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[–] arcine@jlai.lu 17 points 23 hours ago (6 children)

Ah yes, Proton, infamous for being the knee and ratting out activists to the authorities, pretends it has any semblance of a spine left.

[–] DaGammla@lemmy.ml 10 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Some Proton Employee really contacted me here on lemmy to basically say that Proton could never do anything malicious, because they are owned by a non profit. Then how the heck can OpenAI be this scummy when they are also owned by a non profit? (See my Comment History)
Protons PR Team is so scummy. They spread misinformation about themselves in public forums and pay Content Creators to say incorrect things about online privacy to sell products to customers that don't need those products.

[–] Vinstaal0@feddit.nl 5 points 13 hours ago

it probably has to do with the different rules between the US and Switzerland

[–] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 9 points 16 hours ago

Maybe those activists should‘ve chosen anonymity over convenience. Proton offers ways to protect yourself. They just take a little bit of effort.

[–] Auth@lemmy.world 17 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

every single one of those cases was the activist fucking up basic opsec not proton. They are open about the metadata stored and that they can be forced to comply by court order.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 1 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

Meanwhile on Proton'a homepage:

We are a neutral and safe haven for your personal data, committed to defending your freedom.

Our technology and business are based upon this fundamentally stronger definition of privacy, backed also by Swiss privacy laws.

Proton is based in Switzerland, and your data does not go to the cloud. Instead, it stays under the protection of some of the world’s strongest privacy laws.

[–] Auth@lemmy.world 1 points 53 minutes ago

The metadata we're talking about is stuff like ip and time of connection.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 1 points 10 hours ago

Wrapping yourself in the appearance of activism is an effective and cheap marketing tool! You'll get articles written about your bravery.

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 13 points 20 hours ago

They were following a court order and only provided account metadata.

[–] Ashrakal@lemmy.ml -3 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

They’ll say anything just to distract their users away from them being caught red handed in the act of giving away their data to the governments all around the world.

Classic business marketing.

[–] Vinstaal0@feddit.nl 5 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I kinda want to read more into it before I move all my services from Proton, do you have some links?

And do you have an alternative I can use?

[–] XLE@piefed.social 2 points 10 hours ago

https://cyberinsider.com/protonmail-logs-users/

https://www.404media.co/proton-mail-helped-fbi-unmask-anonymous-stop-cop-city-protestor/

https://cyberinsider.com/protonmail-discloses-user-data-leading-to-arrest-in-spain/

https://theintercept.com/2025/09/12/proton-mail-journalist-accounts-suspended/

I’ve been following this on X/Twitter and I think one of the most egregious things that’s important to point out is that folks from Phrack reached out to Proton in private multiple times, and Proton ghosted them. Proton only engaged with them and then reinstated the accounts after Phrack went public and their X/Twitter post went viral.

It also looks like one of the writers filed an appeal with Proton and Proton denied the appeal, so they manually investigated the incident and refused to reinstate the account and then only did after this got attention on X/Twitter.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45227316