Last Updated on 22/11/2021 by Sanskriti
Brave, the privacy-focused browser that by default bans third-party advertisements and trackers, has announced that it will begin utilizing its own search engine. New users will notice the change, which will impact which search engine is utilised in the browser’s address bar. In the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, Brave Search will take the place of Google, Qwant in France, and DuckDuckGo in Germany. In the following months, more nations will be turned over.
It’s a big step for Brave’s nascent search engine, which debuted in public beta earlier this year. Most users just take what’s offered to them.
Setting the default search engine in the browser is an effective marketing strategy, and it’s so common that it’s been the subject of antitrust investigation.
After being fined $5 billion by EU regulators for, among other things, illegally linking Google search to Android, Google now provides a variety of search engines to Android users in Europe. Google has paid businesses like Apple and Firefox to be the default search engine in their browsers over the years.
Co-founder and CEO of Brave, Brendan Eich said, “As we know from experience in many browsers, the default setting is crucial for adoption, and Brave Search has reached the quality and critical mass needed to become our default search option and to offer our users a seamless privacy-by-default online experience.”
He further said that almost 80 million queries are tackled by the search engine in a month.
According to StatCounter statistics, while the transition will increase Brave Search’s popularity among Brave users, the browser’s market share is so minuscule that it doesn’t even register against established competitors like Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Opera. Nonetheless, Brave boasts that their browser had almost 40 million monthly active users as of September 2021.
Brave is also releasing a new opt-in method for users to submit data and help refine its search results, in addition to the change in the default search engine. Brave says that their Web Discovery Project collects search and browsing data in a method that can’t be connected to individual users, can’t be sold to advertising, and can’t be given over to authorities.
Brave Search is presently free to use and does not display advertisements, but the firm claims it wants to introduce advertisements to its free version in the future, as well as an ad-free subscription service.