Never said I trusted the company, just that it would be preferred if that were the case. At least with paying customers there’s an incentive to be pro-consumer. If Proton was snooping on all your shit I think they’d have fewer customers. Likewise I pay for Kagi, primarily for the features and services they offer, but improved privacy is part of the sales proposition; yes they could make more profit selling customer data but that would be a pretty big reputation hit.

Do I trust them not to? No, but "maybe they won’t " is better than “they absolutely must”