Proton AG is a Swiss technology company (formerly Proton Technologies AG) Known for its privacy. However, the fact is many of numerous pieces of evidence suggest that Proton deceived everyone.
[Image source: Alternativeto]
Proton moniter and track the people, logging and leak the personal infomation.
This is true, and it's not an isolated case. Since proton began monitoring French activists in 2023, there have been cases almost every year. The latest case is in September 2025 when proton deleted the account of a journalist who disclosed information to the South Korean government.
- ProtonMail Logged IP Address of French Activist
TL;DR: ProtonMail complied with a Swiss court order and logged a user’s IP address, handing it to French authorities and enabling the arrest of a climate activist linked to property occupations. CEO Andy Yen says Proton had no choice under Swiss law, deplores the outcome, and insists email contents remained encrypted and inaccessible to Proton. Critics accuse Proton of overstating its anonymity guarantees; some argue encrypted email can’t truly protect users from legal compulsion. Proton contends ProtonVPN is less vulnerable to such orders and says it fights many requests, but transparency reports show thousands of Swiss requests and hundreds of legal battles. - Proton Mail Discloses User Data Leading to Arrest in Spain
TL;DR: Proton Mail repeatedly complied with legal requests—this time handing a recovery email to Spanish authorities that helped identify a suspected Catalan activist linked to Democratic Tsunami—exposing limits of its privacy claims. Earlier compliance with a Swiss court led to a French climate activist’s arrest after Proton logged and handed over an IP address. Across jurisdictions, Proton has provided data to law enforcement thousands of times (5,971 requests in 2022), raising concerns that its marketing of strong anonymity and no-logs protections misleads users who can still be unmasked through legal compulsion and cross-company cooperation. - Proton deletes account of a journalist doing responsible disclosure to the South Korean Government
TL;DR: Proton suspended journalists’ accounts after a CERT complaint about a South Korean cyberattack report, disrupting secure communications and responsible disclosure efforts. The company gave vague, late explanations, refused to name the complaining agency, and initially failed to privately resolve the issue. Though some accounts were later reinstated, the episode damaged trust and suggested Proton’s enforcement and transparency practices can undermine press freedom and whistleblower protections—contradicting its privacy-focused reputation.
Proton Lumo are not open sourced, misleading users
Proton marketed its new AI, Lumo, as “fully open source” and not using user data for training, but support later said that claim reflects a future intention, not the current reality. That mismatch—especially since Proton has released other products’ source code at launch—feels misleading and undermines trust. Framing an inaccurate, promotional statement as a “long-term intention” conflicts with Proton’s transparency branding and raises legitimate concerns about honesty and reliability rather than being a minor oversight.
Proton ecosystem like a honeypot
Proton’s all-in-one ecosystem centralizes email, storage, passwords and more under a single account, creating a bigger attack surface and stronger incentives to lock users in. Forcing users to buy an expensive Unlimited plan or create secondary accounts to mix subscriptions is anti-consumer and pushes account consolidation that magnifies risk. Using Proton Pass alongside other Proton services on one account further couples sensitive secrets to the same credentials. Proton’s lack of per-product isolation (e.g., a separate security key for Proton Pass) and account-level entanglement make users more vulnerable if credentials are compromised.
Proton misleading marketing, says it has servers in 112 countries, but in reality, this number is ~40
ProtonVPN’s public server claims are misleading: many listed “country” servers use Smart Routing and aren’t physically located where advertised, inflating country counts and server availability. Secure Core documentation hides exit-server locations and contradicts Smart Routing, creating unclear threat models. This bait‑and‑switch harms users who choose nearby servers for performance or jurisdictional safety and represents false advertising by obscuring real server geography and limitations during purchase.
Proton gain a good reputation by funding media outlets to deceive users
TL;DR: Proton reportedly ghosted independent critic THO after he declined a sponsorship and asked for an interview, contradicting their promise that sponsorship decisions wouldn’t affect access. The episode looks like a petty, access-driven response that undermines Proton’s credibility and raises concerns about quid‑pro‑quo influence. More broadly, sponsorships and access journalism create conflicts of interest that can soften scrutiny of powerful companies; Proton’s behavior here suggests it may prioritize reputation control over transparent engagement, which is worrying for a firm that markets itself on trust and independence.
Summary: Proton, despite privacy branding, repeatedly complied with legal/data requests enabling arrests, misrepresented product openness (Lumo), suspended journalists’ accounts with poor transparency, misled users about VPN server locations via Smart Routing, pressured/ghosted critics over sponsorships, and centralizes services—creating lock‑in and increased user risk, Don't use proton as possible. by the way this is my first time to write blog on HIVE and use fully english if have some mistake please tell me thanks!
NOTE: This acticle write fully by myself, not AI, not Bot, I'm objective and neutral possible, and all points are supported by sources.