How a reader-owned magazine is leaving Big Tech behind
At a glance:
Company profile: Republik
Industry: Media | Investigative journalism | Publishing
Company size: ~50 employees
Why Proton was the right fit:
End-to-end encryption that puts email contents beyond the reach of any authority
No exposure to the CLOUD Act or US jurisdiction
A provider committed to moving before complying with laws that would compromise user data
A suite of tools that covers email, credentials, and network protection in one place
Republik wants the truth to be told, even if it comes at the expense of convenience. That's why it's chosen a business model that runs on subscribers, instead of leaning on the capital of one big owner and their subjective interests. Total editorial independence means its journalists can report freely on surveillance, government overreach, and the limits of institutional power.
The Swiss-based magazine is setting out to move its communications and operations off Big Tech infrastructure with the goal to retain the editorial independence that defiThe Swiss-based magazinenes its journalism.
Republik migrated to Proton Mail, Proton Pass, and Proton VPN, giving its journalists end-to-end encrypted email, secure credential management, and protected network connections. Docs, Meet, and Calendar are on the roadmap for the next twelve months.
The challenge
Protecting the journalists covering those stories was reason enough to secure their email. But pressure came from another direction too. Readers — increasingly aware of Big Tech's security and privacy violations — began to vocalize concerns about Republik's use of Gmail. "No one was more critical of our use of Gmail than our readers," said Olivier Baumann, tech lead and deputy executive director at Republik.
Republik has a history of building its own infrastructure, from a homegrown Content Management System to self-hosted tooling. But what once felt like self-sufficiency came with tradeoffs and overhead that are harder to justify today.
"You can spin up your own file servers for personal use, but once you're a company, there's security, compliance, all of that. It becomes unrealistic to run all of these services ourselves."
Why Republik chose Proton
Encryption that protects sources
With Proton Mail, Republik found what Google couldn't offer: encryption that puts email contents beyond anyone's reach — including Proton's own.
"There's no way for us to hand over the contents of our journalists' emails to any authority who wants to know what they're discussing," Baumann said. "That's extremely valuable for protecting our journalists."
Protection from US jurisdiction
The move also protects Republik from the CLOUD Act, a law that gives American authorities the power to compel US-based tech companies to hand over data stored anywhere in the world, regardless of where the user is, or which country's laws would otherwise protect them.
A provider that won't be pressured
To Baumann, Proton's biggest selling point isn’t where it’s based. It's the company's willingness to move before it complies with laws that would compromise user data.
"I don't care where something is hosted — Switzerland, the EU, wherever. What matters is the law."
If Switzerland passed legislation requiring backdoors, he knows he can expect Proton to leave(new window) rather than comply.
Securing the whole operation
Securing email was the first step, but communication is only one part of a newsroom's attack surface. Republik has since expanded to Proton Pass, which makes sure credentials are always shared securely and access can be revoked the moment someone walks out the door. Proton VPN goes further still, masking which websites and services journalists are accessing, making it harder to connect a reporter to a source, a story, or a location just from their internet traffic.
Ready to leave Big Tech behind?
Proton's Easy Switch tool migrates your emails, calendars, and contacts in minutes — with no data lost and no IT overhead.
