Disclaimer: Don't take my response; this post, or other replies seriously.

Everyone has their own feelings. The truth is we probably don't code, understand, and can actually look at the technologies behind vpns. We are just users. That's not a bad thing at all (but) here's the truth.

Our opinions on privacy tools has changed. First proton was weird and mullvad good, now its mullvad is bad and proton is good. That's not consistent and we just have to be honest because there's many people with different beliefs and experiences privacy recommendations will never be consistent.

Let's actually crack open both controversies. Protons was a company the other an individual. The result to the public the same now each company can't be trusted. Vpns are a trust me bro industry and if you can't trust them for whatever reason then just do not use those vpns.

The answer is simple hard to swallow and honestly straight forward. Stop using commercial VPN providers and start using proxies or tor. Vpns and their tunnels where originally developed for private server access not a general tool for app and internet browsing. They're pretty good since the tunnel itself can be hidden or obscured. However the end result is a trust within a company.

So stop trusting people and opinions even mine.