The European Parliament will discontinue the use of Google as its default search engine on in-house computers, effective June 4. Searches made via the address bar on Firefox and Edge will default to the French search engine Quant, though employees will retain the option to use other search engines or adjust default settings.
This decision supports the Parliament’s commitment to digital sovereignty and user data protection, as stated in an email reportedly sent to staff. The email referred to Quant as a “privacy-focused European search engine.”
The shift to Quant represents a broader effort by the European Union to reduce dependency on foreign technology. A sovereignty package from the European Commission is expected to be unveiled on June 3, aiming to fortify EU technological autonomy.
France has been proactive in this initiative, planning to transition government workstations from Windows to Linux. The country will also replace Zoom and Microsoft Teams with the French video conferencing alternative, Visio.
The movement away from Google parallels rising interest in other alternatives, such as DuckDuckGo. The company reported significant growth in app installs following Google’s announcement of upcoming changes, claiming to have set a record for single-day search traffic on June 1.
