#GrapheneOS PSA
I've seen a lot of social media posts going around claiming things about #GrapheneOS and the French government that I simply could not verify. Lots of misleading news headlines too.
I'd like to take this opportunity to hopefully bring some clarity... from the POV of a new GrapheneOS user in France, who cares deeply about the project.
Here are the facts - as far as I can tell.
The French newspaper Le Parisien published an article about GrapheneOS on November 19th which was filled with inaccuracies and boasted that GrapheneOS was a safe haven for drug traffickers.
The GrapheneOS team was alarmed about the headline and reactions... and decided they no longer felt safe operating servers in France. So they terminated their OVH server contract / usage... and moved their servers overseas, mostly outside of Europe.
French GrapheneOS users can still use it. I installed it last Friday and see regular updates...
I haven't seen any official French government announcements about police/officials going after GrapheneOS - as far as I can tell.
Please feel free to correct me if I got anything wrong!
I just see a lot of fearmongering going around and I hope this won't dissuade people from using it. Its sandboxed profiles and advanced security settings (automatically turning off Wifi and Bluetooth for example) are really amazing.
/fin