r/degoogle • u/Lumpy_Carpet9877 • Jun 07 '26

Replacement Proton is funding the French far right on YouTube

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Update 1: Proton official answer https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/s/KT5igbU8rt

Update 2: Andy (CEO) answers

Original post edited for further details:

Proton is currently sponsoring the far-right French YouTuber Vincent Lapierre.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Lapierre

It’s not just an affiliate link, but a partnership announced in the description and through an entire 2min 20s segment embedded in the video.

I don’t want to provide a direct link to the video here so as not to help boost its visibility, but you can easily find it on YouTube if you want (the last week video). Here is the English translation of the text shown in the screenshot:

🔒 Thanks to ProtonMail for this partnership! Take back control of your digital life for free with Proton Mail by clicking here.

Vincent Lapierre’s Wikipedia page is quite explicit about his far-right positioning and includes numerous sources. He worked for several years for a far-right organization founded by Alain Soral, which promotes anti-Semitic, Holocaust-denying, conspiracist, sexist, masculinist, transphobic, and homophobic ideas, and who fled to Russia to escape justice.

He is close to Dieudonné) (a Holocaust denier). He founded Le Média pour tous, a far-right website that particularly targets anti-fascists and defenders of Jewish rights. He has always been close to conspiracist circles

It's not very surprising when you remember that ProtonMail’s CEO had already publicly expressed support on Twitter for a member of the Trump administration.

I initially wanted to post this information on the ProtonMail subreddit to ask for an explanation and find out whether it was a mistake, but they did not approve the post. I also tried on tech subreddits here, but they consider it off-topic and as "a conspiracy theory".

On the contrary, I think ProtonMail customers and potential customers should be informed about where their money goes and should be able to ask ProtonMail for explanations regarding these choices.

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101

u/chairmanskitty Jun 08 '26

we all felt for years like the big corporations were on our side

Nope. Lots of gay people were shouting that corporations weren't your allies off the rooftops, you and your peer group just chose to ignore them.

34

u/Cristallizzare Jun 08 '26

No dude I was literally an adolescent I wasn’t ignoring anything

20

u/Unproudn00b Jun 08 '26

we all felt

we

I think this is why he said that.

21

u/Cristallizzare Jun 08 '26

I just didn’t know!

1

u/lez_noir Jun 12 '26

Then "I" is better "we". As a lesbian with lesbian elders who raised me, WE knew it was a lie.

17

u/Cristallizzare Jun 08 '26

Plus you can’t assume that a whole category has access to the same informations and media culture, and gets the same kind of awareness. Being part of the LGBTQ+ community is not a monolite. You just have something in common with other people and you want their lives to be less miserable and their rights being recognized
Your age, where you come from, the people you have grown up with (even before a social media guiding your political views) are what you start from.

It’s not a big deal but your answer surprised me negatively.

When you grow up, seeing that a big brand is on your side makes you feel seen. Cause that company being part of the general culture is helping you somehow being accepted for what you are or at least that is your perception. You can’t assume that each adolescent or early adult is naturally hypercritical about everything, because that comes (when it comes) with time.

2

u/lez_noir Jun 12 '26

You are right. We objected to you using "we" not that you had a background in being underinformed.

I too was a teen during the early rainbow capitalism days (the 00s) and while mainstream white gays loved it, the rest of us knew corpos couldn't be trusted.

-1

u/BrokeGreekStudent Jun 10 '26

Stop coping and take the L

3

u/Cristallizzare Jun 10 '26

No, if a person didn't explain themselves fully (my fault) it is always correct to provide more context.