The French search engine Qwant was launched in 2013. -
ROMUALD MEIGNEUX / SIPA
In a message posted on Twitter Wednesday, December 16, Qwant announced that its search engine would stop working in several countries, without specifying which ones.
Users in these countries can however choose to go through a VPN to continue using the service, reports the specialized media
Numerama
.
Some of you have reported difficulties using Qwant in several countries around the world.
It is a difficult decision but we have decided to close access to our services in certain countries where we don't believe to provide the expected quality of service.
Our apologies for this.
- Qwant (@QwantCom) December 16, 2020
“Some of you have reported difficulties using Qwant in several countries around the world,” the company said.
“It's a difficult decision, but we have decided to close access to our services in certain countries where we do not believe we can provide the expected quality of service.
Please excuse us ".
The firm would thus like to refocus on the European market where it remains the most efficient.
A service available in more than 30 countries and 10 languages
The French company, which has developed a search engine that protects the privacy of users, is reassuring by specifying that its services are still available in more than 30 countries and 10 languages.
Namely French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Portuguese, Catalan, Corsican, Breton and Basque.
According to
Numerama
, Qwant would be able on its own to answer 40% of Internet users' requests.
It is helped for the rest by partners such as Microsoft, which provides it with its index developed for Bing.
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