Belarusians are in the streets, no longer willing to live under the tyranny of “Europe’s last dictator.” We at Proton stand with the people of Belarus against the violent suppression of their freedoms, and we would like to once again offer our support to any independent groups fighting for democracy on the ground.
The Aug. 9 presidential election coincided with a nationwide Internet blackout, and elections observers say the outcome was once again rigged to favor President Alexander Lukashenko.
Now, Lukashenko is trying to suppress the largest protests in the country’s history with police brutality. Attacks and detentions of journalists are increasing, with the Belarusian Journalists Association chronicling those incidents(nieuw venster).
We have long been strong supporters of freedom in Belarus. Back in 2018, we funded Charter’97(nieuw venster), an independent news outlet that has been the target of attacks by the government. Above all, we believe privacy and freedom of expression are fundamental human rights, and expanding access to these rights is at the core of our mission.
Why we are taking a stand in Belarus
Over the years, we have become increasingly active in raising awareness about threats to freedom around the world, from the United States(nieuw venster) to Hong Kong(nieuw venster) to the Big Tech monopolies(nieuw venster) that affect us all. As a tech company whose mission is to increase privacy globally, we feel it is our responsibility to speak out and leverage our community in support of a universal right to privacy, security, and freedom.
We are very familiar with the Lukashenko regime because we have been directly targeted by it with censorship. In November 2019, the Belarusian government blocked Proton servers for several days. It was thanks in part to public pressure that the government lifted the senseless block. Public pressure is again helping to make a change on a much larger scale.
We have many users in Belarus, and they too are speaking out. For example, we are proud to provide private email to the team at Charter’97, which we supported through our 2018 Lifetime Account charity auction. At the time, we spoke with the organization’s editor, Natalya Radina, who was living in exile in Poland because of the constant death threats she received.
“I was arrested in the Charter’97 office while I was writing about the brutal force used against our peaceful demonstration,” she said. “All the journalists and volunteers who were in the office were also arrested. All of them were put in prison for 15 days, where they were pressured and intimidated.”
Belarus is crying out for freedom from this oppression, and Proton stands in solidarity with peaceful protesters to offer any assistance we can.
How tech can promote freedom under authoritarian regimes
Technology companies have a vital role to play in preserving the Internet as a platform for free expression. When government becomes hostile to freedom, encryption technologies can help facilitate private communication that keeps activists and journalists safe to do their work.
As Radina told us, “Belarusians are actively using VPNs, Tor, and anonymizers to bypass the blocking of Charter97.org … which is proof that Belarusians don’t believe in the propaganda of the dictator and want to get free information.”
At Proton, we are building an ecosystem of privacy-focused tools that empower people to take control of their data, making individuals less vulnerable to online surveillance and manipulation.
With Proton Mail(nieuw venster), you can easily send encrypted emails to anyone. The encryption happens automatically, and no one can access your messages, not even us. With Proton VPN(nieuw venster), you can connect to any one of hundreds of servers around the world, enabling you to unblock censored content and bypass network-level surveillance. We are also developing Proton Calendar(nieuw venster) and Proton Drive(nieuw venster), end-to-end encrypted tools that will help you keep your events and files private in the cloud.
Because privacy is a right, these tools are free. Proton services are funded by users who choose to upgrade for additional features, such as extra email storage or access to more servers or movie streaming services.
While all our plans offer the same strong encryption, paid accounts benefit from advanced security features, such as Secure Core(nieuw venster) and Encrypted Contacts. We developed these types of features with activists, journalists, and other high-risk fields in mind.
Therefore, if you are in Belarus and in need of advanced encryption services, please reach out to us at advocacy@proton.me. We are also able to offer direct financial support to accredited organizations that are making a concrete impact.
After nearly three decades of often violent repression and censorship, Belarus has said “enough.” As a company with many Belarusian users and which has financially supported independent Belarusian journalists in the past, we once again stand in support of freedom and democracy.
These activities are at the core of our mission: We believe we have a responsibility not only to create good products but also to help create the kind of world we would like to live in.
You can get a free secure email account from Proton Mail here(nieuw venster).
We also provide a free VPN service(nieuw venster) to protect your privacy.
Proton Mail and Proton VPN are funded by community contributions. If you would like to support our development efforts, you can upgrade to a paid plan. Thank you for your support.
Feel free to share your feedback and questions with us via our official social media channels on Twitter(nieuw venster) and Reddit(nieuw venster).
