Industry Web search engine Website www.qwant.com | Headquarters Paris, France | |
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Type Société par actions simplifiée Founded Paris, France (February 16, 2013 (2013-02-16)) Founder Jean-Manuel Rozan
Éric Leandri
Patrick Constant | ||
Qwant is a French company that was founded by security specialist Éric Leandri, investor Jean Manuel Rozan and search-engine expert Patrick Constant in 2011. It launched its eponymous web search engine in July 2013. It claims not to employ user tracking, and it doesn't personalise search results in order to avoid trapping users in a filter bubble.
Contents
The website processes well over 10 million search requests per day, spread over its three main entry points: the normal homepage, a 'lite' version which mimics Google's homepage, and a 'Qwant Junior' portal for children that filters results.
The company claims it makes money through commissions it receives when users visit websites like eBay and Tripadvisor from its search results.
In March 2017, press articles suggest that Qwant search results are mainly based on Bing search results, except in France and Germany. Qwant also confirmed the use of Bing advertising network.
Search engine
The search engine entered public beta in 16 February 2013, after two years of research and development. The service initially launched on February 16, 2013, as a beta version, with a stable version released on July 4, 2013. A new version was made available in April 2015.
Qwant offers several ways to filter results to areas of interest:
In October 2015, Qwant released Qwant Lite, a lighter and faster version of Qwant.com, aimed at being user-friendly for those with older browsers and others that do not have powerful or resource-rich computers. Integrated features like video playback and JavaScript were removed and the on-site content was streamlined. The design of this version mimics that of Google's minimalist interface.
The child-friendly version was developed in cooperation with the French ministry of education.
According to its founder, Qwant does not want to compete with Google but prefers "to show something different". Users can create a free account, which allows posting on the 'boards', a feature with functions similar to those of a social bookmarking platform.
Earlier stand-out features, such as a knowledge graph (called the Qnowledge Graph) based on Wikipedia, seem to have been discontinued.
Company
The company was cofounded in 2011 by Jean-Manuel Rozan, a financier, and Éric Leandri, a specialist in computer security. It employs between 25 and 50 people, spread over three French cities, including Paris and Ajaccio, Corsica.
From 2011 to 2014 Qwant acquired a total funding of €3.5 million, part of it a loan. It was aided in its operation by special tax breaks form the French Government. In 2014 it received additional funding, including a €6 million investment from Axel Springer Digital Ventures in return for a 20% stake in the company. In 2016 the European Investment Bank invested €25 million.
Privacy
By virtue of being based in Europe, users gain some protection from the more stringent European privacy laws. Qwant pro-actively offers protections based on the new General Data Protection Regulation, which will take effect in 2018.
Qwant seems to take numerous technical precautions to limit third parties from gaining insight into users search queries. For example, image search results don't notify the websites on which the images are originally displayed, by routing the images through its own server first.
The websites also makes note of its resistance to French government surveillance in its privacy statement:
"Regarding the French law on intelligence passed on 24 June 2015, we found that the recommendations of the CNIL had gained very little currency: as a search engine, we emphatically do not endorse the measures adopted, especially as they are particularly intrusive from the point of view of individual privacy. Accordingly, we will make every effort to ensure the protection of our users' personal data".
Criticism
Shortly after the release, some observers expressed doubts about the nature of Qwant. According to them, Qwant may not really be a search engine but simply a website aggregating results of other search engines like Bing and Amazon, and that the "Qnowledge Graph" is based on Wikipedia. The company has rejected the reports and asserts that they do have their own Web crawler and used other search engines in their primary developmental phase only for semantic indexing related purposes.
While respecting privacy, the terms of service state that these may be changes at any time:
"Qwant reserves the right to unilaterally modify these terms of service to adapt to the future developments of the site and/or its operation".
The early versions of Qwant copied many design cues from Google.
In March 2017, news articles revealed Qwant displays mainly search results from Bing, except in France and Germany, despite several commitment to be exclusively "made in France".
Reception
Several French newspapers and news sites talked about Qwant just after its beta launch in February 2013 and its final launch in July 2013.
The New York Times drew a comparison to Quaero, an earlier attempt to create a European search engine to rival Google, which shut down in 2013 after investments of over €250 million.
The service has received public support from French politician and possible presidential nominee Emmanuel Macron.