The Proton Foundation exists to guarantee Proton's mission in perpetuity. Recent reporting describes founder-CEO Andy Yen answering engineers who asked for a few days of security testing with "loser thinking," a workplace where people fear raising problems, and staff re-interviewed over their willingness to embrace AI. Community members who believed in — and personally vouched for — Proton's values ask the Foundation to do what it was created to do: enforce the mission where it matters most, at the top.

Why we came. Proton began with a crowd of more than ten thousand donors, not venture capital. It was a community project from day one, and people joined for a promise: privacy as a fundamental right, people before profits, the community as the first and only obligation. Many of us brought others onto the platform — family, colleagues, clients, and people for whom privacy is physical safety: journalists, activists, doctors, lawyers. When we recommended Proton, we put our own credibility on the line. It is invested too, and we do not withdraw it lightly.

What the reporting shows. Founder-CEO Andy Yen told engineers asking for a few days of *********** testing that this was "******** and loser thinking" and that "only losers think like that." Employees describe fear of raising engineering problems. Staff face re-interviews over their relationship with AI. These are not the values of the Foundation's charter. When the people who guard the vault ask for time to check the lock, calling them losers is not velocity — it is contempt for the mission, and it teaches every employee that care is a career risk.

The Foundation's moral responsibility. The foundation structure was built precisely so that mission outranks money. Andy Yen sits on the Foundation's own board of trustees — which makes this appeal both delicate and necessary: the community is asking his fellow trustees, among them figures of worldwide moral standing such as Tim Berners-Lee and Carissa Véliz, to exercise the oversight this structure was created to provide: ensure that leadership's mindset and positions reflect the mission; protect the employees who voice safety concerns; make sure the people who embody the mission inside the company are heard rather than silenced.

What we ask, specifically:
1) The Foundation publicly reaffirms its purpose and commits to act when company conduct conflicts with it.
2) The Foundation ensures that executive conduct is measured against the mission — in mindset and in positions — and communicates what changes as a result.
3) The Foundation gives employees and the community a direct voice to it, and reports on adherence.

We don't want to leave Proton. We want to believe it again. The Foundation was given the power to make that possible. Please use it.