GoKawiilEdgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR The European Parliament will stop using Google Search on official computers from June 4.
French search engine Qwant will be the default search engine for EU officials and lawmakers.
Officials will be able to use a different search engine or change the defaults if needed.
Google and the European Union don’t often see eye to eye. The company has, on many occasions, been on the EU’s radar for various reasons: a massive five-billion-dollar antitrust fine years ago and more recently, a warning against Gemini getting preferential treatment on Android. Now, the EU has decided to stop using Google as the default search engine on official systems.
The European Parliament will start using Qwant as the default search engine on its in-house computers beginning on June 4, per an email seen by Politico.
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The email further states that the decision to ditch Google and use Qwant was made “in line with the Parliament’s commitment to digital sovereignty and the protection of users’ personal data.” To that end, the European Commission is also expected to unveil a tech-sovereignty package aimed at reducing dependency on foreign tech companies.
Qwant is a French search engine that advertises itself as a privacy-oriented product and claims not to track its users or sell data to advertisers. It also offers features that Google does not: Users can completely disable the AI features in Qwant search and turn off sponsored content on the homepage.
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