@AudraTran

> what evidence do you have that these are "state-sponsored attacks"?

The Spanish state is contacting multiple publications misleading them about GrapheneOS. They're making inaccurate and deliberately misleading claims about it and our users.

> Is it your position that no criminals use your software to thwart the authorities?

Far more criminals use iPhone and Android on their devices. There's no evidence that a higher proportion of our significant userbase are criminals.

State employees in their official capacity making inaccurate claims to media about GrapheneOS to smear it as being for criminals and as the users as largely being criminals is a state sponsored attack on the GrapheneOS project.

> I didn't ask about Vanilla Android or iOS. I asked about GOS.

Most criminals use iOS and Android, not GrapheneOS. The proportion of criminals in our userbase is likely smaller than Android. The state making extraordinarily claims has not provided evidence.

@AudraTran They actively reached out to the media about this and started an active PR campaign against GrapheneOS. It has no real substance such as actual numbers. How many convicted of any crime used it compared to iOS or Android?

Police have never had the same level of ability to pierce into people's thoughts, conversations, location history, etc. as they do now and yet they managed to do their jobs before that. GrapheneOS is preserving existing privacy which has always been the norm.

@AudraTran even if the case somehow was that criminals overwhelmingly used Graphene, that's a problem for law enforcement to solve case to case. privacy is a right for everyone, not a tool for criminals

also I wouldn't take anyone from Fosstodon very seriously

You are in good company. in France using Linux is considered being a terrorist, and if you downloaded the documentation of uBlock origin, you are as well.

laquadrature.net/en/2023/06/05…

"Here are just some of the practices that are being misused as evidence of terrorist behavior6:

– the use of applications such as Signal, WhatsApp, Wire, Silence or ProtonMail to encrypt communications ;

– using Internet privacy tools such as VPN, Tor or Tails;

– protecting ourselves against the exploitation of our personal data by GAFAM via services such as /e/OS, LineageOS, F-Droid ;

– encrypting digital media;

– organizing and participating in digital hygiene training sessions;

– simple possession of technical documentation."

Criminalization of encryption : the 8 december case

This article was written on the basis of information related to the so-called "8 December" case (see the footnotes for a global overview of the case, we focus on the "numerical part" of it in this articleFor a summary of the 8 December affair see…

^{La Quadrature du Net}

@sebgogola @AudraTran See grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/… but note there are dozens of news stories like this now. Search for some of the key words from that one.

GrapheneOS

2025-07-02 16:00:02

European authoritarians and their enablers in the media are misrepresenting GrapheneOS and even Pixel phones as if they're something for criminals. GrapheneOS is opposed to the mass surveillance police state these people want to impose on everyone.

xatakandroid.com/sociedad/cada…

"Cada vez que vemos un Google Pixel pensamos que puede ser un narcotraficante". Es el móvil perfecto...

Los Google Pixel son los máximos representantes de Android, con permiso de Samsung. Es por ello que convencen a los usuarios entusiastas del sistema...

^{Pepu Ricca (Xataka Android)}

@AudraTran

Please, don't.

Rightwing newspapers in Spain love scaring senior readers with crime.

You're now just targeting us -the privacy and human rights concerned community- with that same tactic.

Keep calm and let Policía do their job. They just said loads of narcos choose Pixel.

Coincidentally, you recognized your developers being paid mostly in Ethereum donations (while posting against poorly finanzed FOSS projects, like F-Droid).

What's your take on that?

@outis @AudraTran

> You're now just targeting us -the privacy and human rights concerned community- with that same tactic.

This is an extraordinarily dishonest claim with no basis. It's completely backwards.

> Keep calm and let Policía do their job. They just said loads of narcos choose Pixel.

No, what they're doing is spreading misinformation about GrapheneOS despite only a tiny portion of criminals using it because they don't want to lose this capacity:

citizenlab.ca/2022/04/catalang…

CatalanGate: Extensive Mercenary Spyware Operation against Catalans Using Pegasus and Candiru - The Citizen

The Citizen Lab, in collaboration with Catalan civil society groups, has identified at least 65 individuals targeted or infected with mercenary spyware, including members of the European Parliament, Catalan Presidents, legislators, jurists, and membe…

^{John Scott-Railton (The Citizen Lab)}

@outis @AudraTran

> Coincidentally, you recognized your developers being paid mostly in Ethereum donations

We pay our developers with the donations given to the project. Vitalik Buterin uses GrapheneOS and has donated money to the project, so we're prioritizing spending Ethereum since there's a major source of ETH funding.

> while posting against poorly finanzed FOSS projects, like F-Droid

F-Droid gets substantial government funding. It's not poorly financed. They're the ones attacking us.

@AudraTran

What would I answer if I were a bot?

@outis @reflex @AudraTran

> Besides, there's no need for attacking other FOSS projects. You all contribute to a richer and safer ecosystem.

The groups you're referring to are attacking the GrapheneOS project with misinformation and harassment towards our team. We've posted threads to defend ourselves from this and document it.

> Targeted by the Spanish Goverment?? Oh com'on dude!

People can see it for themselves. There is no point lying about it to deny it.

@reflex @AudraTran

Was that a so called 'Straw man fallacy'?

I agree I would not be a human rights supporter if I defended cop narratives.

There are plenty of ways Police, Politicians and you (by voting them) can undermine human rights.

Drug dealing, i.m.o., in no way supports human rights. (Nor tax evading does).

Besides, there's no need for attacking other FOSS projects. You all contribute to a richer and safer ecosystem.

Targeted by the Spanish Goverment?? Oh com'on dude!

@outis @reflex @AudraTran

> Drug dealing

It's a false narrative without evidence.

> Nor tax evading does

What is the relevance?

> I agree I would not be a human rights supporter if I defended cop narratives.

You're supporting false narratives about GrapheneOS spread by subsets of Spanish law enforcement. You're also spreading your own false narratives about it.

Branding yourself as a supporter of human rights doesn't make it true. Here you are actively doing something to undermine them.

They have enough disposable income to buy a device specifically to run GrapheneOS and highly secure devices aren't the cheap Android devices. They have enough time to educate themselves about privacy and make a good choice instead of buying a product based on marketing that's worse than an iPhone.

No evidence has been provided that a higher portion of our users are criminals. From our perspective, it's not believable.

do you have evidence that grapheneos users have higher disposable income and tend to be educated?

i assume these are just your educated guesses. i happen to agree with them. but i'm sure you have no evidence for it.

@AudraTran @Orca

> Thats also not "state sponsored"

State employees attacking GrapheneOS in their official role with support from their superiors and the overall system is a state sponsored attack on GrapheneOS. The prime minister doesn't need to be ordering it from above for it to be a state sponsored attack. Trying to misrepresent GrapheneOS and mislead people about our userbase in order to set up further attacks on us and push for laws against products protecting privacy is an attack.

Sensitive content Clicca per aprire/chiudere

@reflex @AudraTran

So, wrapping up, so far you have said F-Droid as well as other state-funded FOSS projects, spanish right-wing media undermining the "left"-wing Spanish Goverment and spreading Police's false narratives, the Spanish Government itself, and me, are all attacking you.

(I would rather stop now: we both have already made our points clear and they are publicly available for everyone to check out).

@outis @reflex @AudraTran No, what you're doing is making extraordinarily dishonest misrepresentations of our statements with the clear aim of causing harm to the GrapheneOS project and our team, We've archived all of it. That is not what we've said and you're trying to insinuate all kinds of things about us.

> I would rather stop now

As long as these posts from you misrepresenting our statements in a plainly manipulative and dishonest way remain up, you are actively attacking and harming us.

derstandard.at/story/300000027…

There is no negativ PR 😃

Katalanische Polizei geht gezielt gegen Nutzer von Pixel-Smartphones vor

Auf den Geräten lassen sich alternative Betriebssysteme mit Fokus auf Datenschutz wie GrapheneOS installieren. Das reicht für einen Pauschalverdacht

^{DER STANDARD}

@reflex @AudraTran

Listen, you began with: "GrapheneOS is under state-sponsored attack". And after such a claim you dare saying I'm misleading?

I know triggering fear or alarm is a sure way to get attention, but it is the alt-right way. It's the favourite way of the newspaper you mentioned to sell more newspapers.

I'm not harassing you, but criticizing that tactic.

I hope critic don't harm.