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> Money and Resources : We have been lucky enough to have fantastic investors, who fund and help us in our journey. Just as an FYI, this company Cliqz is owned

> Money and Resources : We have been lucky enough to have fantastic investors, who fund and help us in our journey. Just as an FYI, this company Cliqz is owned by Hubert Burda Media, a large media conglomerate based in Germany. That doesn't necessarily inherently mean anything negative, but it's important to understand the potential underlying incentives given their marketing as such a strongly privacy oriented service.

solso 7y ago
An excerpt from the 1st post of this series: "Why would a team be motivated to build another search engine? Why would Hubert Burda Media finance this over several years (they continued to back us especially in times when things got tough)?" https://0x65.dev/blog/2019-12-01/the-world-needs-cliqz-the-world-needs-more-search-engines.html https://0x65.dev/blog/2019-12-01/the-world-needs-cliqz-the-w...
- hobofan 7y ago
  Yes, they mention it, which is a good move regarding transparency, but they still don't answer the question as to why the finance them. They mostly push a narrative of privacy and censorship, when in the end the answer is probably close to "we want a piece of the pie" or "we want to be that monopoly".
  - solso 7y ago
    [Disclaimer, I work at Cliqz] I cannot answer for the "true" motivation of the investors, but their pitch and actions so far are well align with the fight against monopolies narrative. Do they want to get return on investment (eventually)? I would assume so, and I believe it would be fair. I do not see them as mutually exclusive. Of course, this is my personal opinion.
    - AJ007 7y ago
      It’s a good investment as a hedge in the case the EU regulators kick Google in the ass hard enough.
      - lolive 7y ago
        The funny thing is that QWant is currently challenged on its ability to monetize its search engine. Short answer (for the moment): it can't. https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2019/12/04/le-google-a-la-francaise-en-quete-de-fonds-et-d-un-patron_6021607_3234.html https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2019/12/04/le-google... (in french)
mfer 7y ago
Isn’t Google basically an add company (if you go by their revenue). A search engine provided by a media company or ad company. I’m curious what people think the debate is between these.
- MR4D 7y ago
  Differing biases. Choice is good.

solso 7y ago

An excerpt from the 1st post of this series: "Why would a team be motivated to build another search engine? Why would Hubert Burda Media finance this over several years (they continued to back us especially in times when things got tough)?" https://0x65.dev/blog/2019-12-01/the-world-needs-cliqz-the-world-needs-more-search-engines.html https://0x65.dev/blog/2019-12-01/the-world-needs-cliqz-the-w...

hobofan 7y ago
Yes, they mention it, which is a good move regarding transparency, but they still don't answer the question as to why the finance them. They mostly push a narrative of privacy and censorship, when in the end the answer is probably close to "we want a piece of the pie" or "we want to be that monopoly".
- solso 7y ago
  [Disclaimer, I work at Cliqz] I cannot answer for the "true" motivation of the investors, but their pitch and actions so far are well align with the fight against monopolies narrative. Do they want to get return on investment (eventually)? I would assume so, and I believe it would be fair. I do not see them as mutually exclusive. Of course, this is my personal opinion.
  - AJ007 7y ago
    It’s a good investment as a hedge in the case the EU regulators kick Google in the ass hard enough.
    - lolive 7y ago
      The funny thing is that QWant is currently challenged on its ability to monetize its search engine. Short answer (for the moment): it can't. https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2019/12/04/le-google-a-la-francaise-en-quete-de-fonds-et-d-un-patron_6021607_3234.html https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2019/12/04/le-google... (in french)

mfer 7y ago

Isn’t Google basically an add company (if you go by their revenue). A search engine provided by a media company or ad company. I’m curious what people think the debate is between these.

MR4D 7y ago
Differing biases. Choice is good.