The company says there is a "clear void" in the market today as "millions of people have lost trust in the surveillance economy."
The crypto-friendly company Brave has launched a privacy-focused search engine that’s designed to rival Google.
Brave Search is now available to all of those who use the browser of the same name on desktop, Android and iOS devices.
As well as promising that it will be free of algorithms that can influence results, Brave says that its search offering doesn’t collect the IP addresses of users — or adjust results based on someone’s identifying information.
Although the free version of Brave Search will eventually supported by advertising, users will soon be able to pay for an ad-free version if they prefer. Ads have been disabled as finishing touches are put to the beta version.
‘Unmatched Privacy’
According to Brave, more than 100,000 users signed up for preview access of the new search function — and the latest figures show that its browser now has more than 32 million monthly active users.
Brave’s CEO and co-founder Brendan Eich said that the new product is designed to deliver an alternative to big tech, adding:
“Unlike older search engines that track and profile users, and newer search engines that are mostly a skin on older engines and don’t have their own indexes, Brave Search offers a new way to get relevant results with a community-powered index, while guaranteeing privacy. Brave Search fills a clear void in the market today as millions of people have lost trust in the surveillance economy and actively seek solutions to be in control of their data.”
The Brave browser supports the Basic Attention Token, which gives users a share of the ad revenue that’s generated while they surf the web. An announcement unveiling the search engine added:
“When we are ready, we will explore bringing private ads with BAT revenue share to search, as we’ve done for Brave user ads.”
