# Tor Project clarifies continued technical collaboration with Mullvad

> **Key takeaway:** The Tor Project will maintain its technical partnership with Mullvad despite community concerns regarding political donations by a Mullvad co-founder.

**Published:** 2026-10-09T00:00:00+00:00 
**Source:** Tor Project Privacy Blog 
**Category:** decentralized-p2p 
**Canonical URL:** https://fosswire.org/news/tor-project-clarifies-continued-technical-collaboration-with.html 

## Summary
Following community pressure regarding a Mullvad co-founder's political donations, the Tor Project has released a statement addressing its relationship with the company. While the Project is pausing proactive co-branding and joint promotional activities, it will continue technical collaboration to support Tor Browser development. The decision follows a due diligence process involving staff, the board, and community discussions.

## Scope of the collaboration
- Technical collaboration focuses on improving the **structure, maintainability, and auditability** of the Tor Browser codebase.
- The partnership provides a lower-risk environment for testing features intended for Tor Browser users.
- The Project has paused **proactive co-branding** and joint promotional activities with Mullvad.
- Language regarding the endorsement of Mullvad Browser on Tor-owned channels has been clarified to avoid implying value alignment.

## Why it matters
The decision highlights the tension between pragmatic technical resource acquisition and the ideological alignment required by human rights-focused open source projects.