Oh yeah also how about some respect for the employees that actually make the fantastic products? Why take a verbal dump on someone on your own team? The only reason I pay is for the belief that the code im running is lovingly hand crafted. This is a bespoke product at bespoke prices. If that is not the direction of this company anymore I shall not give them another dollar.

Already posted in the other one but since this one has more traction I’ll add my thoughts here as well:

My subscription is cancelled.

I will check at the end of my current term if this clown is gone. If not, I’ll find someone else to host my email.

We had a good thing going. Proton was great and can be great once again. But not if Andy Yen is associated at all with the leadership of this company. What a clown.

I want Proton to be different from the companies that made me leave the first time.

A healthy workplace listens to its people. Especially when they raise concerns about security. Especially when those concerns come from engineers who know what they're talking about.

Yes, use AI. Integrate it with the right controls, at the right pace. Let it help, not drive. There's no shame in moving slower if what comes out is safer, more private, more trustworthy. That's the point of choosing privacy-first in the first place.

I don't need Proton to play the same game as Big Tech. Speed for speed's sake isn't the metric that brought me here. Quality is. Privacy is. Trust is.

When a company starts treating caution as weakness, it forgets why people chose it over the alternatives. I'm not looking for disruption at all costs. I'm looking for integrity in products, in culture, in how you treat the people who build what we rely on.

If that means arriving later, fine. Better late and honest than early and hoping it holds.

I'll give it a month, but if the leadership doesn't change I'm leaving and cancelling my Unlimited Subscription. This is unacceptable behavior towards anyone and from anyone. Let alone a CEO towards their employees.

As a Visionary user, this is a top priority. The Proton Foundation and FONGIT need to step up.

Agree with all comments mentioning that treating employees/colleagues like this is very poor behavior. I dislike the push towards ‘everything AI’, but c’mon at the very least don’t be a schmuck.

I dislike this attitude towards employees, as revealed by 404 Media, and to lower software standards for the sake of speed and AI adoption is not fine by me. Adopting AI is one thing, degrading the quality of output is another.

The behavior exposed by 404 Media is not in line with what users/subscribers to Proton want, and it will cost the company. We want an eco system created carefully with the goals of privacy and security baked in with intention, not any old AI slop that can make production fast.

This blind rush to replace competent engineers with inconsistent AI is too high risk for a security focused product. Add to that the toxic treatment of employees and you get a recipe for disaster.

Significant changes to Proton's business philosophy and leadership need to be made in order for the company to know it has a long-term future.

This is a moment in time where Proton needs to choose whether or not it has a future.

The fractured, half baked, products were already frustrating. The news today shows that the problem is top down. Until that changes I don't see Proton getting any better.

Andy Yen should resign. I don't care as much about AI but treating people like garbage is enough for me to migrate away and use some other product.

I think it might be time. Proton has had a good run but it might be time for someone else at the helm. The next chapter shouldn’t include this kind of language or belittlement.

“Perception is more important than truth, the truth doesn’t matter if you don’t win on perception.”

Andy has generated just a ton of bad perception here.

This reporting makes me deeply concerned for the quality of Proton's products and the security of the data I trust them with.

Beyond that, I feel for the employees dealing with this level of toxicity, and I don't want to continue paying an organization that treats people this way

We're incredibly disappointed in Andy, and this isn't the first time. Come on, Proton, you're misjudging your customer base here massively. We came to Proton because we dislike the way the large technology corporations emphasize rapacious capitalism, invasion of privacy, and shortcuts that harm customers in lieu of the bottom line. EVERYONE knows that AI is part of that shortcut system, and Andy's lines about wanting to rush past testing reeks of Elon Musk style behavior.

I'm not sure if you guys are aware how many die hard proton mail fans are at a breaking point over this issue.

I'm in the software industry, I understand that AI use is part of software development at this point. Don't love it- but accept it. I'm not ok with a company that I'm paying a premium for not trusting their engineers, forcing vibe coding, and undervaluing the technical judgment of the people who are there to provide human judgement, and generally enshittifying like too much of big tech.

I'm paying for proton mail because I had a degree of trust in their security, approach, and intent. That is the reason I'm paying for the service instead of going with one of the many free competitors. I have zero reason to remain a customer if you are going to abandon everything that made your service worth while.

I give zero damns how many new features you churn out - If you abandon the reason we're her you are going to lose your entire userbase.

At this point the only reason I haven't canceled is I need a few days to research alternatives.

Reading the 404Media article is damning .
Unless management changes I will not be renewing my unlimited plan when due.
His behaviour is unnaceptable

New CEO needed.

Really looking to see what protons response to this situation is before I decide to migrate away.

People have invested considerable time, effort and money by coming to proton, and a poor response will mean they're forced to migrate again.

This mentality is unacceptable, I pay for privacy and security not slop. If I wanted slop I can get it for free.

This is really simple. Get rid of Andy Yen, or lose all your customers. Do this now. Do not wait. You are rapidly bleeding customers as I type this.

Andy is a bully. He wants to be Elon Musk so badly.

That type of behavior is completely unacceptable for any manager, and doubly unacceptable for someone in a CEO position.

We need a new CEO.