Some of you have probably heard of an ad-blocking browser called ‘Brave’, well, the company behind that browser has actually filed a regulatory complaint against Google in Europe, while the company has actually decided to ditch Google as a default search engine in some regions. The company filed a report in Europe because of Google’s ad privacy practices, while Google’s search engine has been replaced by Qwant in both France and Germany, for now.
Now, truth be said, Brave filed complaints against some other ad tech firms that it thinks are breaking the rules, but Google is definitely the major player here. Brave detailed everything in its press release, and the company’s chief executive, and former Mozilla Firefox head, Brendan Eich, said that people need tools to fight back and take a stand to protect themselves against technology giants that make a living by exploiting user data. Brave filed a complaint in conjunction with the Open Right Group and University College London researcher, Michael Veale. Brave says that Google violates the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe by broadcasting personal information to companies bidding to show targeted ads.
We’ll see what will come out of this complaint, but it’s also worth noting that Brave chose Qwant as its new search engine of choice, as that company likes to boast about its privacy aspect, and it claims that it respects privacy of its users. It remains to be seen if Brave Browser will switch to Qwant in some other regions as well, though it probably will, it’s only a matter of time. Google did not respond to any of this, at least not publicly, so it remains to be seen what will come out of all this. As far as other browsers are concerned, it’s unrealistic to expect that they’ll do the same thing as Brave, as most of them will probably stick with Google as their search engine of choice.