"London's Metropolitan Police - the UK's largest police force - asked tech companies to give officers access to private communications data over 700,000 times in 2025 alone, according to figures obtained by The Register under the Freedom of Information Act."
"Since 2024, the Met says that it has obtained communications data (CD) from Proton's privacy-focused mail service users 139 times. CD is not messaging content, but metadata. In Proton's case, this could include account payment details and, in some instances, IP addresses."
"Although Proton did not dispute these figures, a spokesperson told us: "Proton does not transmit data directly to any foreign law enforcement agencies," adding that it operates under a "strict legal framework" so all requests must go through the Swiss authorities. Requests for data that don't meet Proton's legal and human rights requirements are refused, which it has an "established practice" of doing, according to the spokesperson."
"The Met also claims that it has acquired data results from ProtonVPN, although the non-profit says this is "highly dubious and inconsistent with our technical reality [...] because Proton VPN does not log user activity, there is no data to provide," referring El Reg to its transparency report. "We engage with every request in good faith, but we simply cannot hand over what we do not collect," Proton said."
The Metropolitan Police requested communications data from technology companies over 700,000 times in 2025. The figures show monitoring of everyday services and a surge in surveillance of LycaMobile users. Data acquisition also included encrypted messaging services intended to provide privacy. Since 2024, the Met obtained communications data from Proton users 139 times, with communications data described as metadata rather than message content, potentially including payment details and sometimes IP addresses. Proton did not dispute the figures and said requests must go through Swiss authorities under a strict legal framework, refusing requests that do not meet legal and human rights requirements. ProtonVPN claims the Met’s acquisition results are highly dubious because Proton VPN does not log user activity. The Met also claimed Signal provided data once since 2024, which Signal records appear to contradict, stating it collects very little user data.
#surveillance #communications-metadata #privacy-services #law-enforcement-requests #freedom-of-information
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