Brave web browser acquires Tailcat in order to launch alternative to Google Search
The owners of the Brave web browser have announced that they have acquired a search engine in order to launch Brave Search, a privacy-focused search engine of their own.
Poised to be a Google Search alternative, Brave Search will focus on being "the industry’s first independent, privacy-preserving alternative to Google Chrome and Google Search" according to the Brave Software development team. The post announcing this search engine cited multiple statistics alongside the decision, including 25 million monthly active users for its Brave web browser.
Brave Search will follow 7 core ideas for its functionality and continued development:
- Private: "it does not track or profile users."
- User-first: "Brave serves the user first, not the advertising and data industries."
- Choice: "We will provide options for ad-free paid search and ad-supported search."
- Independent: "We will rely on anonymized contributions from the community to improve and refine Brave Search."
- Transparent: "We will not use secret methods or algorithms to bias results. We will explore multiple community-curated open ranking models to ensure diversity, and prevent algorithmic biases and outright censorship."
- Seamless: "We will offer best-in-class integration between the browser and search without compromising privacy."
- Open: "We do not believe in walled gardens and, as such, we will offer Brave Search to power other search engines."
In addition to following the above core tenets (with confirmation that there will be a paid option to remove ads from the search engine), the development team will also look into "blockchain-based options and new developments, including for e-commerce uses."
No release date or time frame was announced for Brave Search, though those interested can sign up for a waitlist at brave.com/search/.
Further coverage: Brave blog post
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