Principal @commsleadership • Public relations for newsmakers • PR career @ 🇺🇸🇨🇳🇯🇵🇨🇦🇰🇷🇸🇬 Battle-hardened communicator • On the record • Asia hand 🌏
51.04530° N, 114.06920° W
Joined December 2008
- Tweets29.7K
- Following38.8K
- Followers86.6K
- Likes60.6K
Pinned Tweet
This is PR damage control from the official corporate voice of the company, not from the CEO whose reportedly abusive communication with his employees sparked the controversy in the first place. A company statement is no substitute for a leader taking personal responsibility for his own words and conduct.
Hey everyone, we have heard your concerns about Proton’s AI strategy and culture and after internal discussions, we want to share a few things with you.
First, Proton does not install tracking software on employees' laptops to measure how much AI-generated code they produce. This rumor stemmed from a misunderstanding about how MDM software works, and it's not true.
Second, our use of AI will never be at the expense of security. In the past year, contrary to what has been alleged, additional layers of security review have been added to meet the threat posed by hostile AIs scanning Proton's open-source code for vulnerabilities. Our code is open source, and its security remains open for all to verify.
We want to prove this to you, so in the interest of transparency, we will lift the hood on how we use AI internally at Proton. This includes publicly releasing and open sourcing several of the internal tools that we use, including more advanced versions of Lumo with greater capabilities, which have never been made available outside of the company.
We will also publish how code reviews and security reviews at Proton are done, and detail our AI policies, including where AI is permitted, and where it is not, and our rationale. Instead of just being able to see the final open-source code that we produce to verify security, you will also be able to assess how that code was produced.
Lastly, we are not re-interviewing our staff about AI usage, and there are no job losses due to AI re-interviews.
You can hold us to these commitments. We're aware that we haven't lived up to the high standard you ought to hold us to, and for that we can only apologize, we are sorry.
OpenAI launches new PR push
"OpenAI said it does not want to call its facilities 'data centers' anymore, and it plans to propose a new label for the infrastructure that powers chatbot queries. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed that the new name is 'compute campuses,' saying, 'Compute campuses better describes the scale and role of the infrastructure we're building for AI.'"
Bob Pickard retweeted
"This suggests that his communications team have entirely lost control of the president and what he is doing."
Analysis from @Stone_SkyNews after Donald Trump chose to make a speech about the reflecting pool in Washington DC on the final day before the midterms.
Bob Pickard retweeted
Narcissistic behaviour often comes with an extreme sensitivity to criticism. Even minor disagreements can feel like personal attacks because everything is filtered through their own ego. Instead of reflecting on their actions, they become defensive, take offence, and shift the blame. Their inability to tolerate discomfort can make every interaction revolve around their feelings.
From propaganda to propaformance
"This propagandistic and educational innovation also responds to a society under rapidly changing socio-technical conditions and personal desires... propaganda work responds to these fundamental changes in Chinese society. Its operations become less obvious, more enjoyable, and more emotionally touching. This shift is captured by the notion of 'soft propaganda,' which describes today’s propaganda as a more subtle, more persuasive agenda that coexists with, but differs from, what they call 'hard propaganda.'"
📰Propaganda is not always something audiences simply watch, read or listen to. Increasingly, it is something they are invited to experience.
In a new China Dialogues piece, Frederik Schmitz examines the rise of “propaformance” in China: a form of participatory propaganda that turns official historical narratives into embodied and emotional experiences.
From frozen-potato challenges inspired by The Battle at Lake Changjin to immersive Long March performances and virtual reality experiences, the article explores how the boundaries between propaganda, entertainment and historical memory are becoming increasingly blurred.
It also raises a wider question: what happens when audiences become participants in producing and reproducing official narratives, rather than merely consuming them?
⬇️Read the full piece: blogs.lse.ac.uk/cff/2026/10/…
#China #Propaganda #HistoricalMemory #PoliticalCommunication
One to watch as an unfolding leadership communication case study. Proton's plan to "re-interview" employees about their use of AI was a bone-headed way to invite adverse media publicity through entirely predictable leaks from disgruntled staff.
Signalling that machines matter more than people is certain to undermine employee morale and damage corporate reputation. The CEO's abrupt retreat suggests he badly misjudged the reaction his initiative would provoke.
New: Proton CEO Andy Yen just cancelled the company's 're-interviews'. Comes after our investigation
The re-interviews would have been about how workers were using AI, with the clear implication you might be fired
"He has a rebellion on his hands." 404media.co/protons-ceo-canc…
More 👇
This is PR damage control from the official corporate voice of the company, not from the CEO whose reportedly abusive communication with his employees sparked the controversy in the first place. A company statement is no substitute for a leader taking personal responsibility for his own words and conduct.
Bob Pickard retweeted
We mourn the passing of Patrick Stewart, who inspired countless individuals at NASA (and beyond) to boldly go where no one has gone before.
ALT Image description: A packed, sparkling starfield captured by our Hubble telescope — with strange new worlds potentially awaiting. Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA, R. Cohen
Yen on communicating about the encryption implementation of Proton Mail:
“Perception is more important than truth, the truth doesn’t matter if you don’t win on perception.”
404media.co/manifestos-fear-…
Experience suggests that many law firms struggle with modern technology and contemporary communications. This latest news of data breaches and the way these firms have responded do little to dispel that impression. "We sincerely regret the concern this incident may have caused…"
McCarthy Tétrault, one of Canada’s top corporate law firms, is dealing with a major data breach that has compromised thousands of files, including client information.
The breach occurred over the last week, according to two sources familiar with the matter, and one source directly involved said 31,000 files were stolen.
The Globe and Mail is not naming the sources because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
McCarthy Tétrault confirmed the breach to The Globe and Mail, but declined to comment on the number of affected files.
The firm, which advises on some of the highest profile deals in Canada, has been reaching out to Bay Street clients this week and informing them of the breach. Clients are currently in the process of learning what information has been compromised.
theglobeandmail.com/business…
Bob Pickard retweeted
CBC News names new foreign correspondents as it proceeds with international bureau expansion
ow.ly/T5uK51028tx
#cdnmedia #journalism
Bob Pickard retweeted
Global Affairs officials tell committee they can’t answer on $1.09 billion bank obligation thehub.ca/2026/10/29/global-…
Eighteen months ago, country-themed restaurant Cracker Barrel found itself in the crosshairs of a public relations disaster.
This article looks at how the brand is recovering from the fallout, having taken stakeholder sentiment into consideration.
“The smartest decision was reversing course and acknowledging customer feedback. Returning to its familiar logo and traditional restaurant atmosphere demonstrated a willingness to listen.”
“The biggest lesson from Cracker Barrel’s past 18 months is the importance of considering what your brand truly signals to your customer base before you make changes for corporate reasons. Rebranding for a corporate outcome at the expense of tarnishing your brand affinity is not a winning strategy.”
the-independent.com/us/money…
Companies that kowtow to Beijing in the hope of protecting their business in China are telling the rest of the world that their principles are for sale. Corporate cowardice comes with a reputational price tag.
Hello Kitty maker ends collab with Japanese spy drama after backlash in China bbc.in/4svqEmk
