AFP
Breaking news from Europe as two innovative search engines, Ecosia and Qwant, join forces to create a new local search engine that aims to challenge Google’s dominance and reduce reliance on Big Tech companies based in the U.S.
The collaborative effort known as European Search Perspective (EUSP) is set to launch in 2025 with a shared goal of enhancing French and German language search results. Ecosia, headquartered in Berlin, focuses on sustainability by planting trees for every 50 searches made on its platform. On the other hand, Qwant, based in Paris, prioritizes user privacy through advanced data protection measures.
Despite their unique brand identities, Ecosia and Qwant are uniting against Google’s monopoly in the search engine market. By leveraging existing technologies from companies like Microsoft for now, they aim to offer tailored search results that cater to European cultural preferences and linguistic nuances.
This strategic move has been made possible partly due to new tech-focused competition regulations within the European Union known as Digital Markets Act (DMA). Under this act, Big Tech firms like Google are required to provide fair access to their platforms and share data necessary for training search models.
In light of rising API costs following Microsoft’s price hike for Bing’s APIs, both Ecosia and Qwant are determined to ensure business continuity by diversifying their technology sources while maintaining a focus on user privacy. The upcoming venture will introduce a “privacy-first” index designed to enhance user privacy protections while empowering both search engines with cutting-edge technologies.
2024-12-16 23:15:02
Source from www.ibtimes.com