European search engines Qwant and Ecosia have officially launched Staan, a privacy-focused search index designed to challenge the dominance of U.S. tech giants Google and Bing. The initiative represents Europe's most ambitious attempt to achieve digital sovereignty in the search engine market, with the two companies targeting significant portions of their home markets by year-end.
Privacy-First Alternative to Big Tech
Staan, launched Wednesday through the joint venture European Search Perspective (EUSP), aims to process 50% of French search queries and 33% of German queries by the end of 2025. The index prioritizes European data protection standards, operating under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and processing all data within Europe to minimize user tracking.
"If you're using ChatGPT or any other AI chatbot, they all do knowledge grounding with web search. Our index can power deep research and AI summary features at a tenth of the cost" of traditional providers, said Christian Kroll, CEO of Ecosia, in an interview with TechCrunch.
Unlike dominant search engines that build extensive user profiles, Staan employs data minimization principles and eliminates user tracking. The platform offers transparent operations regarding data handling while ensuring compliance with European privacy regulations.
Economic Advantage for AI Development
The timing of Staan's launch coincides with growing concerns about European dependence on American technology infrastructure. According to EUSP, the initiative becomes more urgent following the 2024 U.S. election results, which "reminded European policymakers and innovators just how exposed Europe remains when it comes to core digital infrastructure".
Both Qwant and Ecosia are already integrating Staan into their AI-powered features, with Qwant using the index to deliver AI summaries for search results and Ecosia planning similar implementations. The companies are actively engaging with other firms to promote adoption of Staan within AI chatbots and applications.
Strategic Response to Market Pressures
The launch follows Microsoft's decision to increase costs for Bing Search API access in February 2023, threatening the business models of European search engines that relied on the service. This pricing pressure prompted both companies, which had historically depended on Microsoft's Bing platform and Google's search results, to pursue independence.
The European Search Perspective joint venture, established with equal ownership between the companies, operates outside of Ecosia's steward-owned model to enable external investment for future expansion. Qwant CEO Olivier Abecassis leads the new venture, with existing Qwant engineering teams and technology transferring to EUSP.
"We were not driving the car. We were sitting in the passenger seat, and anything could happen. We need to be more independent," Abecassis told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
European search engines Qwant and Ecosia have officially launched Staan, a privacy-focused search index designed to challenge the dominance of U.S. tech giants Google and Bing. The initiative represents Europe's most ambitious attempt to achieve digital sovereignty in the search engine market, with the two companies targeting significant portions of their home markets by year-end.
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