Ecosia and Qwant Forge 'Staan' Against U.S. Tech Grip, Aiming at 50% of French Queries
Ecosia (Berlin) and Qwant (France) are teaming up for a joint venture, European Search Perspective (EUSP) or Staan. The goal is an independent European search index to bypass US Big Tech infrastructure. This move is framed by the companies as an urgent necessity due to over-reliance on American systems.
Nods to the alliance suggest the move is partially a business play. 'Zerush' flagged the joint venture as a direct response to a massive price hike from Microsoft's Bing APIs. Other voices noted EUSP targets significant market share, aiming for 50% of French queries and 33% of German queries this year. 'Hotznplotzn' claimed the index offers power search at a tenth of Google/Bing's AI knowledge grounding costs.
The overwhelming takeaway is a clear push for tech sovereignty. The community sees this as a proactive bid by Ecosia and Qwant to build a localized, privacy-first tech stack, specifically aiming to avoid US or Chinese infrastructure dependence.
Key Points
#1The venture's primary aim is geographic independence.
The EUSP/Staan index seeks to reduce European dependency on American tech giants like Google and Bing.
#2A core financial trigger for the alliance.
The partnership is seen by 'Zerush' as a necessary reaction to a massive price increase from Microsoft's Bing APIs in 2023.
#3Specific market capture targets exist.
The venture plans to hit 50% of French queries and 33% of German queries by year-end, according to 'misk'.
#4The structure includes internal personnel shifts.
The index features a 50-50 ownership split between Ecosia and Qwant, with Qwant's engineering team transferring to the project.
#5The economic argument centers on cost reduction.
Ecosia's CEO allegedly claims the service offers power search capabilities at a fraction of Google/Bing's stated costs.
#6Ecosia's established background was noted.
It was pointed out that Ecosia is a Berlin-based, not-for-profit entity funding tree planting via ad revenue ('BrikoX').
Source Discussions (4)
This report was synthesized from the following Lemmy discussions, ranked by community score.