I've been thinking about tax payer funded public technology infrastructure recently with all the posts about the next google / improving web search. Why couldn'

I've been thinking about tax payer funded public technology infrastructure recently with all the posts about the next google / improving web search. Why couldn't we have a tax payer funded but fully independent office that creates essential online services such as web search? I suppose the main argument against it might be privacy concerns or censorship / propaganda. But with no commercial interests I think privacy would be better protected. As for censorship / propaganda - the BBC manages to stay pretty neutral in the UK.