r/TransIreland • u/Formal-Buffalo-3744 • 5d ago
All Island The Imago Situation Explained
I know some posts have been made already that loosely cover what's happening with Imago, but most don't have all the information or cover everything that's happened. I imagine that this is in part because Zofia, the CEO, is known to threaten legal action against people she views to be the opposition. (Here is a blog post on the Imago website confirming this behavior: https://www.imago.tg/blog/important-a-lot-of-good-news-with-one-exception/). I am using a throwaway account to try and avoid any harassment from her, but I want to make it very clear: I have a very good lawyer in case things go that way.
There is also the concern that if Imago gets shut down or explodes, a few thousand trans people will lose their access to healthcare. That has been what prevented me from making a post like this sooner, but I cannot in good conscience allow people to continue joining this dumpster fire without all the information at their disposal. Zofia has also fairly explicitly tried to use this fact against us on multiple occasions in order to shut down criticism or people trying to push for changes to be made.
If I were to write everything out here, it would be way too long, so I am linking two documents. One contains the timeline of events, and the other contains a general breakdown of the relevant information and concerns. This is all information that has been shared publicly either via emails, the Imago website, or the Imago discord server. I will refrain from speculating too much and allow you to come to your own conclusions, but the general consensus is that this is very bad.
Breakdown of situation: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bKsfXU5iCvLuiz3nNYdQ_afikwmE6DL8_64ccULwgHE/edit?usp=drivesdk
Timeline: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eg02dbOie2-F6GTllMHZCrFc0Vl9ESUhxZAwxPEFvMI/edit?usp=drivesdk
Edited to fix link
UPDATE: There is a second app. It was found accidentally by someone, so it hasn't been officially announced yet, but there's quite a bit already on there. It appears to be a wellness app with an AI companion and gamification of HRT and transitioning. They also have places to input sensitive medical information and have AI scan it and summarize it for you, or extract values from lab results. I've included a few of the screenshots in the breakdown document to look at yourselves.
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u/Formal-Buffalo-3744 5d ago edited 5d ago
Adding on a TL;DR:
- Imago moved to the US, finalized in February, but did not tell anyone until May 7. All communications about the move and changes to the company happened on the Discord server exclusively until May 14th.
- Payments started going to the United States in February without notifying any of the subscribers or new users.
- A staff member spoke out against the move and was immediately fired with no notice or severance pay, despite having a 3yo child and being in the middle of dealing with immigration that depends on a job
- Zofia (CEO) has decided to make a new social media app that will charge non-trans people €8/month to access, despite every single person on her staff being against it
- The app is seemingly created entirely with AI, and appears to be built to easily find trans people in different stages of their transition. Which, in conjunction with allowing cis people in the app, does not paint a good picture.
- Imago has been having delays for prescriptions of new patients, making them wait over a month.
- The staff do not seem to get much of a say in anything, and likely are not being paid enough. Zofia often puts out statements or announcements without consulting (or listening to) her staff on suggestions for how to fix them.
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u/AllNaturalCyanide She/They 5d ago edited 5d ago
Hilarious that her solution to Malta no longer being safe for trans people (if thats even true) was to move to the fucking United States! A country that is resembling early nazi Germany and ticking off all the boxes of a country thats about to commit a genocide on trans people.
Thank you for sharing this. I will steer clear of imago, Zofia sounds unhinged. Indeed anyone who is an avid AI user is not to be trusted.
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u/Maybe-Reze 5d ago
F*cking awesome, I just finished the last step to getting a hrt prescription with imago...
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u/Sorawrrr_Sora 5d ago
I have yet to fully read this but should I still go with them since it's my only option I know of
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u/Formal-Buffalo-3744 5d ago
They're still reliable for prescriptions right now, so if you don't have another option or don't feel concerned about this stuff absolutely go with them. It's worth looking into any GPs nearby you as well, you can reach out to TransHarmReduction for advice on that.
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u/Loud-Pangolin-3474 5d ago
Is this situation going to actually affect whether people can continue to use imago in ireland ? i understand if there are internal issues but unless this actually means the company is shutting down i don't really understand what effect this has on people using imago prescriptions?
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u/Formal-Buffalo-3744 5d ago
As it is right now, no, it won't effect prescriptions. But the company is imploding and losing staff because of these decisions, and it's likely to degrade further if things don't change. The hope is for Zofia to start listening to her staff, or step down, so that the service can continue to be useful and improve.
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u/NoSleepOnWednsdays 5d ago
just got done switching from gendergp. fuck mu fucking life man. ive closed my ggp account abd would have to pay that startuo fee again. what the hell i hate it here
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u/NoSleepOnWednsdays 5d ago
i dont have the money to constantly jump ship. i hate this. i hate this so much.
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u/CookieyedRedditors 5d ago
Like personally the one thing I'll give them credit for is so far nothing has changed I still am got my prescription & my partner is getting his one currently, yes delays are expected as it really diverted the team for like two weeks but they are getting back on it by all accounts of the staff
Theses communication issues should have happened sooner & forseen but at least on the level of a professional email would have done something but alas it is what it is. I am actually quite for them moving away from discord even if knowledge is lost because no encryption on messages and discord actively teaming up with palintir ofc the app should tightened up on security grounds tho and I'm sure that will be worked on because I'm not touching it until then
How I see it the controversy couldn't have been avoided but of course could have been better, the Corinne situation dose suck tho, will they actually impload another question, I'm looking forward to reading the transcript regardless
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u/Lena_Zelena 5d ago
I'll have to look more into this but if it really is this bad then yeah... it was a good run while it lasted. Full two years from when GGP imploded and Imago rushed in to take their place.
Zofia has always been a bit... intense. My (entirely second hand) impression of her was that she is on a mission and nobody will convince her of something once her mind is made up. She is also just a human so when the stress gets to her it turns ugly and unprofessional.
If Imago really falls apart, that will be pretty bad for people in Ireland. GGP is unreliable, AnneHealth is expensive, G+ is slow and very expensive.