Proton: “We’re consolidating our social media presence due to limited resources and no longer posting on Mastodon. Follow us on Reddit for the latest updates”

  • floofloof@lemmy.ca
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    13 hours ago

    Does this have anything to do with the CEO expressing his support for Trump? I can’t imagine how, but there are some odd decisions being made at Proton lately.

    • AnAmericanPotato@programming.dev
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      13 hours ago

      Almost certainly, yes.

      People on Mastodon are not happy about those statements, and called Proton out on it relentlessly with every post Proton made. This is Proton running away with their tail between their legs, back to platforms where they have more control and/or are already full of right-wing nutjobs.

      If anyone’s looking for secure email, look at tuta.com instead. The email service is very similar in terms of UX and offers better encryption. They don’t offer the rest of Proton’s suite, but…maybe that’s a good thing? I mean, do you want to get locked into an ecosystem?

      • Eeyore_Syndrome@sh.itjust.works
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        12 hours ago

        Never Forget

        …“the reality is that Republicans remain more likely to tackle Big Tech abuses.”

        Like doge having our social security and Treasury wallet+keys? >.>

        He can suck my ass and nutts.

        • the_swagmaster@lemmy.zip
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          12 hours ago

          From a historical perspective, he wasn’t wrong. The republicans were looking more at big tech cause, in the past, big tech was very left leaning. Things have obviously changed but your quote misses that he was hopeful that Trump would do something for big tech. His hope is obviously miss placed after big tech started sicking his dick but doesn’t mean he couldn’t be hopeful

          • cygnus@lemmy.ca
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            12 hours ago

            It was still a completely naive and idiotic thing to say and doesn’t show the forethought and strategic thinking that comes with being a good CEO, especially one of a service that could literally put people’s lives in danger if jeopardized.

            • the_swagmaster@lemmy.zip
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              10 hours ago

              So it’s naive to voice his opinion on what a Trump presidency could mean for the tech industry? Looking back to trump’s previous term big tech shunned him and Twitter even kicked him off the platform by the end of his presidency. Back then it pissed Trump off and he threatened all sorts of shit. I don’t think it was that crazy to think that he would still be upset about it and try to do something at the begining of December when Proton’s CEO made that post.

              If you look at what proton is trying to do in terms of becoming a complete non-proffit that would have many safeguards in place to undo that change. I think it does show he has some level of forethought. The one caveat being that they have not completed that process and implemented everything yet so we’ll have to see if that promise follows through

        • AnAmericanPotato@programming.dev
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          8 hours ago

          Proton does not use end-to-end encryption for email headers. That includes the subject lines, senders/recipients, and other potentially sensitive information.

          Tuta uses E2EE for email contents AND headers.

          Consider for a moment what someone with access to your contacts and subject lines would know about you. For me personally, they would know which political campaigns and causes I donate to, and when. They would know when I see various doctors, and who they are. They would know my travel dates and destinations. They would know what newsletters I read (many of which are also political). Etc.

      • dmtalon@infosec.pub
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        13 hours ago

        Their damage was already done with that CEO statement (for me), since after those remarks I cancelled my VPN plan with them. I’m not someone who’s going to then follow them around and post negative comments on their Mastodon, X, reddit account whenever they post. I’m just going to walk away.

        So, they will move to where their base is, just like trump did and they can sell there stuff to a smaller percentage of the market if they want. I will never understand why a company would actively try to cut their sales base in half or whatever.

      • cygnus@lemmy.ca
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        13 hours ago

        They also can’t control the narrative on Mastodon like they do on Reddit and Lemmy through “volunteer mod” Nelizea. I’m glad I quit using them — they are becoming tech bro chuds (or maybe always were but just hid it better)

          • cygnus@lemmy.ca
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            9 hours ago

            They control moderation, as they also do on Reddit. I don’t know about Lemmy but I have personally been shadowbanned on their Reddit sub. They can’t do that on Mastodon.

      • UnsavoryMollusk@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        I used tuta for a while, while they are working the best they can, I ended up leaving the platform. The app, ui, desktop app are really annoying to me. I found their antispam really lacking too.

        However their work is still very impressive and they were always honest.

      • zraziel@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        Imo it’s more like leaving the town full of bullies… completely understandable, I would do the same. Insane amount of hate, for one mistake. People can only see black and white these days…

        • AnAmericanPotato@programming.dev
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          12 hours ago

          “One mistake” would be if he didn’t double-down on it, and if Proton addressed their customers’ concerns in any meaningful way. Instead, they deleted posts and are now withdrawing from the community entirely, and directing users to three of the worst corporate hell-holes on the internet.

        • stardust@lemmy.ca
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          6 hours ago

          With US aligning with Russia and North Korea and their party taking Kremlin talking points of refusing to say Russia is the aggressor it shows a huge lack of foresight that you’d expect from a CEO. Not like the party hasn’t been accused of being pro Russian years prior or stuff like Project 2025 plans to kill democracy.

          This is some amateur stuff.

        • the_swagmaster@lemmy.zip
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          12 hours ago

          Agreed. I don’t support their decision to leave mastadon but I totally understand why they did it. Proton is on our side (as much as a company can be) so I don’t get why people keep ripping into them for something that isn’t true. He wasn’t saying he supported Trump, he just hoped the republican party would do something about big tech. Not gonna happen but we can all agree we hope it’ll happen

          • sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            12 hours ago

            If you read the whole thing again, he is supporting Trump and the Republicans.

            • the_swagmaster@lemmy.zip
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              10 hours ago

              Here is the CEO’s post along with a link to an article with the twitter link.

              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.

              He is supporting Trump’s pick for a roll, fair enough. But the rest of the post, he is talking about how he hopes the republicans will do something about big tech. He isn’t endorsing Trump himself or his stance of policies. Far as I’ve seen he never has. He it literally just stating what the republicans used to be about.

              • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
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                8 hours ago

                No, he literally STARTED by stating what the republicans used to be about and then added a wildly inaccurate statement about what the republicans are about now.

                • the_swagmaster@lemmy.zip
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                  19 minutes ago

                  But Trump was the first president (since the US tried to break up Microsoft) to seriously start thinking about fighting big tech. Obviously for dumb reasons (they hurt his feelings) but still, I don’t think that statement is inaccurate. However, it is true he isn’t the first politician to say something against big tech. Even so, he was in a position of power to potentially do something about it (even if he never did and likely won’t now given how much they are bending the knee)

                • stardust@lemmy.ca
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                  6 hours ago

                  And he didn’t even need to say anything at all which is the ridiculous thing lost in all this. It was amateur hour showing a huge lack of foresight you’d expect a CEO to have when it comes to things as simple as PR.

                  • the_swagmaster@lemmy.zip
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                    26 minutes ago

                    Regardless of what we think of his comments, it’s good that he is vocal about his opinions. Makes him seem like a person than some faceless CEO they says nothing.

                    He just got spicy with this 1 post and it hasn’t worked out for him and now the open source community Proton is a part of hate him. There is so much hate that they are leaving Mastodon which is a huge shame

        • Engywuck@lemm.ee
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          13 hours ago

          You must be new to the internet. People make a drama out of every little shit.

          • daddy32@lemmy.world
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            12 hours ago

            Little shit like praising literal hitler for some other things he did, besides the genocide.

          • zraziel@lemmy.world
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            12 hours ago

            :D apparently yes. it’s still sad to see. There wasn’t a single post done by proton that didn’t immediately derail into people blaming about “the issue”, and they just couldn’t stop. Not a fun time, and there isn’t anything the company can do to convince these people otherwise, they are just a lost in hate

    • techforwhat@lemmy.today
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      8 hours ago

      Did he directly express support for trump? I only saw something along the lines of “the Republican party is better than the Dems because they will address big tech”. Albeit that statement itself is misguided in many ways, but curious about what his actual post said?

      • RagingSnarkasm@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        Check your renewal date. Mine auto-renewed today without any prior notification that it was coming up.