Is Proton Leaving Switzerland? "Legal Uncertainty" of Proposed Surveillance Laws Would be the Reason
An Anonymous Coward writes:
Proton has confirmed the company has begun moving out of Switzerland due to "legal uncertainty" over the newly proposed surveillance law.
Proton's newly launched privacy-first AI chatbot, Lumo, has become the first product to change home yet, "investing in Europe does not equate to leaving Switzerland," a company spokesperson told TechRadar, amid rumors it's exiting the country for good.
The firm behind one of the best VPN and encrypted email services has been very critical of the Swiss government's proposed amendment of its surveillance law since the beginning, already sharing plans to quit Switzerland back in May.
If it passes, the Ordinance on the Surveillance of Correspondence by Post and Telecommunications (OSCPT) will introduce new obligations for virtual private networks (VPNs), messaging apps, and social networks. These measures include mandatory user identification and data retention of up to six months for all services with at least 5,000 users. Providers will also be required to decrypt the communication upon the authorities' request should they own encryption keys.
Lumo - the first to go
Proton launched its ChatGPT competitor, Lumo, in July 2025, to give its users an alternative to Big Tech solutions that truly protect their privacy.
In a blog post about the launch, Proton's Head of Anti-Abuse and Account Security, Eamonn Maguire, explains that the company has decided to invest outside Switzerland for fear of the looming legal changes.
He wrote: "Because of legal uncertainty around Swiss government proposals to introduce mass surveillance - proposals that have been outlawed in the EU - Proton is moving most of its physical infrastructure out of Switzerland. Lumo will be the first product to move."
Talking to a Swiss publication after the launch, Proton's CEO Andy Yen confirmed that the proposed changes to the Swiss surveillance law made the company opt for Germany instead to host Lumo's servers. Proton has also confirmed it's also developing facilities in Norway.
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