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WordPress executive director Mary Hubbard has reportedly asked hosting and plugin companies to help fund a WordPress security program. A Toolradar summary of a Repository article dated October 8, 2026, names GoDaddy, Newfold Digital, and about 30 additional companies as targets of the appeal. The summary does not establish that any of them agreed to contribute.

What the report says

Toolradar’s WordPress Media Mentions & Press Coverage page summarizes a Repository article dated October 8, 2026. According to that summary, Hubbard’s appeal was directed at hosting and plugin companies and asked them to help fund a WordPress security program.

The summary names GoDaddy and Newfold Digital, plus about 30 other companies. That describes the reported audience for the appeal; it is not evidence that those companies pledged money or participated in a program.

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What remains unconfirmed

The available summary does not describe the proposed program’s design or establish its current status. It does not say who would administer the funds, how contributions would be calculated, what security work the money would support, or how results would be reported. It also gives no funding target, eligibility rules, or company responses.

Those distinctions matter: an appeal to fund a program is not the same as an operating fund, a published contribution plan, or a confirmed commitment from the companies named.

What the summary says about Automattic

Toolradar’s summary also says Automattic has paid every WordPress bug bounty since 2017. The original Repository article and an underlying announcement were not available to confirm the claim or clarify its scope, so it should be treated as an assertion in the summary—not as an independently verified account of WordPress security funding.

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Why the proposal’s details matter

If a shared funding program moves forward, its practical significance will depend on details not included in the summary: which organizations contribute, who controls and allocates the money, what security work qualifies, and how spending and outcomes are made transparent. Until those terms and company responses are published, the report supports only a limited conclusion: Hubbard reportedly made an appeal, not that a funding arrangement has been established.

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