Nov 12, 2024 at 4:03 PM Ecosia and Qwant team up to launch an independent search index, challenging Google & Bing
The two prominent European search engines Ecosia and Qwant have announced that they are joining forces to create a 100% independent European search index, aiming to reduce dependence on U.S. tech giants like Google Search and Microsoft Bing. This collaboration will result in the European Search Perspective (EUSP), which will be based in France and is set to launch next year. The EUSP's search index will be used by both companies and will also be available to other independent search engines and tech firms.
This initiative is in line with the European Union's strategic goals to enhance digital sovereignty by providing an independent alternative to dominant search technologies. Ecosia and Qwant will share equal ownership of the EUSP and are looking for external investors to support future growth. The EU's Digital Markets Act plays a supportive role by mandating data sharing, which is essential for developing new search models.
Currently, Google dominates the global web search market, with Ecosia and Qwant relying on Microsoft's technology for search results. This partnership aims to offer a true alternative to Big Tech, reflecting the rise of independent search engines like Mojeek and Brave, with the latter being the most recognizable and having launched its own 100% independent search index last year.
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External links
- Ecosia and Qwant join forces to develop European search index - Better Web
- Ecosia, Qwant partner on search engine tech to counter Google's power
- Two Upstart Search Engines Are Teaming Up to Take on Google
- European Search Engines Ecosia and Qwant Join Forces to Rival Google and Microsoft
- Ecosia and Qwant partner to develop European search index
- Ecosia and Qwant, two European search engines, join forces on an index to shrink reliance on Big Tech
I hope the search index will be open source and have decent results in all languages!
Sounds awesome! Multiple indexes = multiple bots = more different results = its easier to search stuff on the web!
It'll be great to see some more competition in this space.
Qwant has always relied on Bing (if not simply redirecting results from it) and just as Google, since the AI integration, search results are becoming much less relevance, it's certainly is a good thing they're becoming independent. Of course, their announcement mentions AI few times because training models is certainly be the main reason they need their own search engine. About mandating data sharing in the DMA, it only means to research purpose. Companies do have the rights to get access to the data they generate using Big Tech (aka Gatekeepers) platforms but theses Gatekeepers still keep all the rights on their own data and technologies, so Qwant will need to start from scratch (but as today, is way much more easier to crawl the web than 20 years ago).
This will be either huge, or nothing changes. I'm looking forward to their success.