Proton Mail: Difference between revisions

This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents related to this product. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:{{PAGENAME}}|{{PAGENAME}} category]].

{{Main|Proton Mail discloses activist IP address to police}}

Up to 2021, ProtonMail advertised itself as a private and secure service with the following under "Anonymous email":  <blockquote>"No personal information is required to create your secure email account. By default, we do not keep any IP logs which can be linked to your anonymous email account. Your privacy comes first."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Secure email: Proton is free encrypted email. |url=https://proton.me/mail |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831234120/https://protonmail.com/ |archive-date=2021-08-31 |website=ProtonMail}}</ref>  </blockquote>This statement proved to be false, when in September 2021, a member of a French activist group had been using ProtonMail to communicate with other groups. As an investigation was launched involving them, the email provider handed over the user's IP address and other data, including the device they were using.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lomas |first=Natasha |date=2021-09-06 |title=ProtonMail logged IP address of French activist after order by Swiss authorities |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/06/protonmail-logged-ip-address-of-french-activist-after-order-by-swiss-authorities/ |url-status=live |access-date=2025-11-19 |website=TechCrunch |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260112062019/https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/06/protonmail-logged-ip-address-of-french-activist-after-order-by-swiss-authorities/ |archive-date=12 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Salter |first=Jim |date=2021-09-07 |title=ProtonMail removed “we do not keep any IP logs” from its privacy policy |url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/09/privacy-focused-protonmail-provided-a-users-ip-address-to-authorities/ |access-date=2025-11-19 |website=Ars Technica |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251209002537/https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/09/privacy-focused-protonmail-provided-a-users-ip-address-to-authorities/ |archive-date=9 Dec 2025}}</ref> The section was changed shortly after getting attention from news outlets and the general public.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Secure email: ProtonMail is free encrypted email. |url=https://proton.me |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907033644/https://protonmail.com/ |archive-date=2021-09-07 |access-date=2025-11-19 |website=ProtonMail}}</ref>  <!-- This needs a format restructure or a main incident page, but I can't be bothered to learn it right now. I just do tone and citations... -raster -->

In 2022, ProtonMail announced a policy that entails the [[Inactive account deletion|deletion of inactive accounts]], resulting in major controversy. Many users have criticised the decisions and advocated for nuanced versions of inactive account policies, such as deleting only the email contents of any inactive ProtonMail accounts instead of the accounts themselves, as the latter would reportedly result in major inconvenience for users who used the accounts as multiple-factor authentications for important services, such as banking. It has also been said that the harsh policy will adversely affect those who had good reasons to become inactive for a long time, such as hospitalisation, prison incarceration, and being in totalitarian countries that have prolonged internet shutdowns.<ref>{{Cite web |last=ProtonMail |date=2022-04-14 |title=Protonmail's dormant policy is now in effect. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/u3ejjp/protonmails_dormant_policy_is_now_in_effect/ |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241218103805/https://old.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/u3ejjp/protonmails_dormant_policy_is_now_in_effect/ |archive-date=18 Dec 2024|access-date=2025-11-20 |website=Reddit}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-04-14 |title=Protonmail's dormant policy is now in effect. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/u3g406/protonmails_dormant_policy_is_now_in_effect/ |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20221016093816/https://old.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/u3g406/protonmails_dormant_policy_is_now_in_effect/ |archive-date=16 Oct 2022|access-date=2025-11-20 |website=Reddit}}</ref>

The Proton team has stated on Reddit that the inactive account policy aims to "manage their resources in a sustainable way". In the comments, it was noted that retaining the accounts themselves indefinitely and only purging their contents would not noticeably increase operating costs compared to deleting entire accounts, given that login information is all that would have to be retained. ProtonMail also does not allow registering email accounts with the same address as deleted email accounts to prevent impersonation, which would be possible only because it retains the deleted email addresses in its records.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-04-09 |title=Proton's New Policy for Free Inactive Accounts |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/1bzt1ka/protons_new_policy_for_free_inactive_accounts/ |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250128155913/https://old.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/1bzt1ka/protons_new_policy_for_free_inactive_accounts/ |archive-date=28 Jan 2025|access-date=2025-11-20 |website=Reddit}}</ref> <!-- "would only be possible / is only possible" is strong language, needs rewording. also is there an "unless...?" on this justification -->

Until around 2023, there was no way for users without a paid subscription to create local backups of all of their emails at once (an example of [[data lock-in]]). Paying users could utilise the Proton Mail Bridge to download their emails via the IMAP protocol using an external client, such as Thunderbird or Outlook. In contrast, free users were limited to downloading each email individually, making it impractical for backup purposes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How to export and import emails |url=https://protonmail.com/support/knowledge-base/export-import-emails/ |url-status=unfit |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20220426212143/https://protonmail.com/support/knowledge-base/export-import-emails/ |archive-date=26 Apr 2022|access-date=2025-11-20 |website=ProtonMail}}</ref>

{{Ph-C-SA}}

==References==