2w ago

Proton will no longer post on Mastodon

discuss.privacyguides.net Proton will no longer post on Mastodon

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: Reddit - Dive into anything”. This is unexpected, as they had around 50k subscribers on Mastodon, and mirroring posts is super easy. I find ...

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”

Privacy Guides @lemmy.one

Proton will no longer post on Mastodon

discuss.privacyguides.net /t/proton-will-no-longer-post-on-mastodon/25299

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158 comments

Smells like non technical reasons
- Wonser if the media manager there got fired or something. Should look at their jobs board

Follow us on Reddit
That's where you lost me. Not for now, for good.
- Yeah damn that hurts. Just signed up for tuta. I will be leaving proton soon I guess. A shame, I had just finished moving all my communications there…

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.
- 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?
  
  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.
  
  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.
  
  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)
  
  Tuta is really good. The push notifications work perfectly without delay on de-googled devices. top.
  
  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.
  
  In what way is Tuta's encryption better?
  
  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..
- I don't think I'll be renewing
  
  Check your renewal date. Mine auto-renewed today without any prior notification that it was coming up.
- 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?
  
  because they will address big tech
  That aged like milk.

"We hate that our CEO keeps getting called out and slammed by our followers so we're gonna stick our fingers in our ears"
Also good time to remind everyone Tuta exists :) https://tuta.com/
- I've been using Tuta Mail for a few years now. No complaints. Most of the features you would expect. Lack of IMAP support is kinda disappointing but survivable. Their email security is very strong though — they encrypt every part of your email, including subject (some providers only encrypt the body). They're also rolling out post-quantum encryption of email data at rest, which tickles my crypto nerd side.
  They've still a loong way to go to match Proton's product suite though, as they only offer Email, Contacts and Calendar for now. They're working on Drive storage next, which is the main reason I currently use Proton.
  
  They’ve still a loong way to go to match Proton’s product suite though, as they only offer Email, Contacts and Calendar for now
  honestly that's a plus for me, I'd rather they focus on a small set of products and do really well with them. before I left Proton I was wary of their scope creep, and then the crypto wallet shit
  
  Tuta is great, I will start from that. But they encrypt the subject line, in addition to the body afaik. It is technically impossible to encrypt "every part of the email" because that would break delivery (e.g., metadata such as recipient or timestamps).
  This also has the cost of a nonstandard protocol (not plain PGP), with all that implies in terms of compatibility, maintenance needs etc.
- Tuta is fantastic.
- This is the first time hearing about Tuta, Thank you
- Would’ve switched in a heartbeat with IMAP support but that’s not in the cards. Stuck with Proton for now.
  
  Wait... neither Proton supports IMAP! (unless you install their local bridge)
- How does this factor in to all this? https://archive.ph/xoleo

Btw, their Mastodon account has more followers than their Bluesky and Threads accounts combined, both of which they are keeping. What a stupid decision.
- It's not stupidity; it's censorship. They can control what gets posted on their own Reddit community. They can't control what people are actually saying on the fediverse.
  People need to realize that Proton has gone to the shitter; stop paying for them and migrate away as soon as possible.
  
  Hmm good point. Honestly didn't think about that. In that case I'm surprised they're keeping the Bluesky account up, the replies are 90% negative there.
  
  And reddit has been extra aggressive in allowing mods ban users more easier too, as of this month. Now some mods are "cahoots with admins"
- They will leave Blue sky for twitter once , people find out as well, mark my words, and they will add Facebook eventually, since it's still the place where right wingers flee to have more administrative control over their groups, of they get ousted from reddit

"Privacy is important, so you can follow our latest updates exclusively on the platforms that don't give a shit about privacy"
- Privacy isn’t particularly good in the fediverse. Any federated instance can track you as much as they want without you ever knowing or consenting.
  Self hosting Lemmy is straightforward. Then subscribe to all communities and now you have a treasure trove of data to mine. If you modify the code a bit you can do more like keep deleted posts around or surveil user activities in real time.
  
  That's not what privacy means. Mastodon is incredibly transparent that everything you do publicly is public - the threat model is very clear here.
  Also you can't compare public tool used for tool interactions to a suite of private tools that is Proton or any other service.
  Finally if all of the data is available public for anyone to access this means it's not exclusive to bad actors like ad machines, government spies etc.
  
  Sure, but at least the fediverse doesn't try to fill your browser of ads and tracking cookies
  
  Only if you use privacy as the opposite of public. "Privacy", though, generally refers to counter/non-surveillance. It's not surveillance to be able to access data that you explicitly publish publicly.
  
  Doubt mastodon instances are cookie tracking you across the web, or trying to capture open session on other windows. Mastodon phone apps doesn't ssk for your location neither.
- TBF, they push the same content via their email newsletter.
- On a platform, that will ban you if you look at it wierd

Proton can now officially go fuck themselves.
First, their CEO supports Trump. Then this, ditching Mastodon in favour of nazi-Twitter. Proton is not safe anymore and people need to migrate away ASAP.
- Was it ever? I ditched them years ago when they tried to gaslight people that e2ee in javascript in browser is secure.
  
  Security is hardly a binary property.
  Given you mention the specific technical setup, I would say yes - that is secure against most risks relevant for most people.
  At least, it's totally fine according to my own threat model, where I looked specifically at broswer-based encryption vs "manual" encryption (I.e. using PGP tools locally).

due to limited resources
Either:
We have lost our password
Our C and V keys are broken and we can not copy paste our social media messages anymore
- It might be the Control key which broke.

If Proton does not refer to the Steam's Windows adapter layer for Linux, I don't care.

Damn, reddit, really? That sucks 🙁

Whats the problem with creating one message and using the APIs for posting it on all social medai? With optional formatting per platform?
- Because these bridges are one way only.
  They will get spicy replies on niche platforms, not see them until they go viral in a bad way.
  
  Ohh that's a fair point! Maybe there's a way of fixing that by adding some "post your concerns over on reddit" or something similar, but idk.
- Twitter API costs $$$ to use
- They wrote that they don't want to "write and forget" but engage with people (as they do on Reddit, for better or worse). I think it's opinable, but it sounds reasonable to me. What is the value of having an official account which just reposts one-way communication already published on the blog and on the newsletter? Anybody can build such a bot, but it's not "presence" the way I interpret it.

Proton just dropping the ball over and over again these days. That's why I'm working on migrating from their sevices, then deleting my Proton account.
- Me too, but I just can't stand Tuta UX (unless it got better recently).
  
  It's a little better, but still not as clean as Proton. The mobile menus really suck.
  But they're good enough, so I use them.

Lmao that second paragraph. This guy is not just a tool, he's the whole toolbox.
- To be fair, the only platform I've been banned from is Mastodon... because of political ideas

Moving all my shit across Outlook to Proton took forever, I swear I'll shoot a mf if I have to move email providers AGAIN
- I was subconciously always thinking "man, imagine if Proton screws up some day and all the people who switched to it have to switch away, that would suck" but didn't think it would actually happen, but man, with enshitification, it's actually possible lmao
  
  Nothing will meaningfully improve until the rich fear for their lives
- I am on the hunt for new service, proton is out for me. No trust is them nazi supporters.

I liked electrons and neutrons better anyways....
- Please no, no more shitty electron apps
- Underrated comment, right here!!

Since I have found it historically hard to engage on this (broader) subject around here, just yesterday I put together my own thoughts at https://loudwhisper.me/blog/proton-fediverse-burnout/
Personally, I did not see the value of their Mastodon presence, it was write only marketing communication, no engagement with the community anyway. That happened only ever on Reddit, which I think is going to continue being the case.
They push the same info via email newsletter, if someone really wants that stuff.
Either way, the post above covers my take on the whole drama, not just this last small chapter.
- Read your entire post. You claim people will say you come off as an apologist and you do.
  As a person who was seriously considered switching to Proton this just reminds me of why I should not. It is clear no matter what corner of the Internet we run to as long as it is into the open arm of corporations it is a mistake.
  Blue sky, Proton, etc. are not a solution to a problem. They are just the newest version of putting lipstick on a pig. We need to move beyond corporate control and it is clear Proton, even being a nonprofit, is no solution.
  I find your hand waving of the CEOs position particularly distasteful. There are a lot of CEOs out there that don't decide to get all political. They don't do this because they have an image or brand to protect. Maybe I just like a good illusion though.
  In this respect I am glad he opened his ignorant mouth and showed he has no business commenting on politics. He is no political scientist, just another person drunk on his accomplishments trying to pretend he knows fuck all about anything.
  
  Thanks for the response, despite the fact we disagree quite substantially.
  I think it's OK that different people have different points of view. Everyone's opinion also should fit within a broader (political) praxis and strategy that they support.
  There are a lot of CEOs out there that don’t decide to get all political. They don’t do this because they have an image or brand to protect. Maybe I just like a good illusion though.
  This is something I particularly disagree, as you probably have already read. Ignorance on once's position doesn't mean that position doesn't exist. I appreciate Jeff Bezos for example writing that memo (just yesterday's published), compared to acting the same way without my full knowledge.
  He is no political scientist
  If this was the criteria to comment on politics, honestly we should shut down everything (including Lemmy) :)

The only thing Proton has going for it that Tuta does not is the .onion site and even that constantly leaks to clearweb so fuck'em.
- There are a few other things I miss from Proton:
  Proton Bridge
  nicer interface
  better search
  Yet I'm a paying Tuta customer now instead of a paying Proton customer.

I did weeks of work migrating every password and email address to proton. Sucks the stances they are taking but now I’m kinda stuck, and it’s still better than Google.
- Bittwarden or KeyPassXC are good self-hosteable alternatives.
  
  Yeah but without email aliases it would not be worth it
- Im sure there are tools/scripts for migrating easily. Proton is a sinking ship, anyone who denies it is just lying to themselves at this point.
  
  That’s impossible, the email aliases are under their domain. You’d have to change all your accounts. I’m not doing that again. Hopefully they just change their tune.

I still don't know how to feel about Proton, even with an early (and continued) email presence there. Reddit? I see this post because of lemmy.world and fedia.

Fuck Proton.

Proton doing shady proton things again. Who would have guessed that.

Well, read comments under their latest posts on Mastodon. Solid shitstorm of 9 Beaufort since more than a month.

If they aren't getting much traction somewhere, but are spending outsized resources there, it makes sense to redirect the manhours elsewhere.

Will be missed /s

This is the second VPN that has gone shitty on me...

Why not on Nostr? No any freaked admin, etc
- I think the main problem is they don’t want to maintain multiple accounts
- also nobody really cares about nostr
  
  Well, we have to carry info to the masses so that we don't repeat the story of BlueSky, where yesterday the moderators deleted a not-so-dangerous video but reopen after an uproar. It's the same Twitter, side view. So far, I'm only getting minuses. 😏

158 comments