Andy Yen founded Proton — encrypted email, VPN, cloud storage. Today, over 100 million people worldwide protect their privacy with his service. He deliberately built his company in Switzerland — because of its privacy laws. Proton is one of the very few European tech brands with truly global scale.

In this conversation, he explains why Big Tech knows more about you than any intelligence agency, why he thinks it's insane to use Google — and why Europe is about to throw away its biggest advantage.

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CHAPTERS:

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:02:48) - Proton's Origin: From CERN Cafeteria to Global Privacy Company

(00:10:39) - Why Email? Big Tech, Surveillance & the Threat to Democracy

(00:22:08) - Crowdfunding, Steve Wozniak & Building Without Investors

(00:50:17) - Governments, Jurisdiction & the Swiss Legal Shield

(01:10:01) - Europe's Tech Crisis: Missing the Digital Revolution

(01:27:18) - AI, China & Who Will Win the Tech Race

(02:29:23) - One Last Question

Ben:

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ungeskriptetbyben?sub_confirmation=1

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ungeskriptet

Instagram: https://instagram.com/ben_ungeskriptet

X: https://x.com/benungeskriptet?s=21

Andy:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-yen-03a9676/

X: https://x.com/andyyen

https://x.com/ProtonPrivacy

Recording date: March 11, 2026

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