1Password wades into a right-wing mess after funding a Linux project

1Password faced immediate backlash from customers this week over a $300,000 pledge in support of a Linux distro created by David Heinemeier Hansson, who has regularly published overtly racist blog posts that include comments calling for deportation of ethnic minorities in Europe. The popular password manager is now a “distinguished corporate patron” of Omacom, the nonprofit foundation that oversees a popular Linux distribution known as Omarchy.

One viral blog post declared that 1Password “Supports the Ethnic Cleansing of Europe” because of the donation. Others on social media asked for suggestions for alternative password managers so they would not support the funding of a project from Heinemeier Hansson, better known as DHH.

The donation has also resulted in internal pushback from employees of 1Password who are disappointed by the affiliation, The Verge has learned. 1Password CEO David Faugno and cofounder Roustem Karimov have since posted internal messages addressing what Faugno describes as “concerns, both internally and externally” that have been raised “due to the polarizing nature” of DHH.

DHH is a Danish entrepreneur best known for creating Ruby on Rails, Basecamp, and the Hey email client. Omarchy is DHH’s “opinionated” version of Linux, meaning it’s Linux the way he likes to use it. It’s based on Arch Linux, with certain apps that install by default. It’s also, apparently, one of 1Password’s big customer environments.

The backlash to 1Password’s funding should have been predictable; DHH’s reactionary comments aren’t new. Way back in 2023, Duke University Libraries dropped one of DHH’s products, Basecamp, citing “harms we see perpetuated by the leadership of Basecamp’s parent company, 37signals,” which is co-owned by DHH. At the time, Duke noted DHH’s attack on DEI programs and The Verge’s reporting on Basecamp banning “societal and political discussions” at work.

This year, DHH has published rants that appear to call for ethnic cleansing in Europe. In his July 21st blog post titled “Wolves, sheep, and gypsies,” DHH implies that immigrants are “wolves.” His solution? “When wolves get out of control, you shoot them. When gypsies take over public spaces, you deport them.”

In an internal Slack message obtained by The Verge, 1Password’s Karimov downplayed the overtly racist comments from DHH, telling staff the following:

As I said, people have different personal opinions. You believe in your heart that DHH is evil, that you have the moral high ground, and that nothing will change your mind.

However, not everyone believes that. It is not fair to claim a monopoly and ostracize team members who might disagree with you.

There are people who are afraid to speak up simply because they will be personally attacked.

1Password CEO Faugno took a different approach, trying to reassure staff that “1Password does not endorse hateful, dehumanizing, or exclusionary views, including those shared publicly by DHH.”

Nonetheless, it seems the company has sacrificed a moral position for a “mission-driven” position. In the same message to staff, Faugno says “the scale and growth of [Omarchy’s] use among our customers is significant – Omarchy has grown to be the second most used Linux distribution among 1Password users.”

Faugno then tries to create distance, telling staff that its contribution is “to the Omacom Foundation, not an individual.” Still, he says “we recognize that Omarchy is associated with DHH, its founder. Our donation is not in any way an endorsement of his personal views or conduct.”

We asked 1Password for comment on its funding of the Omacom Foundation on August 31st, and again today. We did not receive a response in time for publication.

The Omacom Foundation is also funded by 12 “founding patrons” who each contributed $1 million, including Stripe’s CEO Patrick Collison, Michael Dell, Jack Dorsey, and Shopify’s Tobias Lütke — who recently endorsed the idea that wealthy Canadians should have more voting power in democracy than poorer people. Even before 1Password contributed, this page looked like a rogues’ gallery of tech. (DHH himself also gave $1 million to the project.)

1Password employees don’t seem impressed by its leaders’ comments based on dozens of emoji reactions we saw in their internal Slack conversations. 1Password’s CEO says the company will speak more about it internally at an all-hands meeting.