PARIS鈥擨t was something like an American tariff 鈥 one that predated President Donald Trump 鈥 that convinced one French company of the need to build a firewall against U.S. technology dominance.
Paris-based Qwant, which runs a search engine that pledges to protect user privacy, had a licensing agreement with Microsoft for the use of the critical software that powers its search results.
鈥淭hey were perhaps a little ahead of their time. They did a 鈥榩re-Trump鈥 when, one day, they delivered the news that they had raised the price of their solution by 10,鈥 Olivier Abecassis, Qwant鈥檚 chief executive, said in an interview.
The company negotiated a reprieve through to 2026 鈥 much more generous than the weeks-long delays the Trump administration has granted some countries on the imposition of its trade tariffs.
But instead of pleading for relief from an industry titan or turning to another company, such as Google, Qwant set out to plant a sovereign European flag on the World Wide Web.
It鈥檚 an undertaking that should serve as warning and an inspiration for Canadians, as well as an eye-opener about Canada鈥檚 over-reliance on and vulnerability to American digital infrastructure and technology 鈥 from tech companies to cables to the Starlink satellites connecting remote communities to the internet.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a world in which Trump could try to pressure tech companies to not serve Canadians, or to put a very high cost on serving Canadians,鈥 said Matt Hatfield, executive director of , a Vancouver-based organization that advocates for democracy and digital rights. 鈥淭hat could really, deeply mess up our internet in a way that we need to be prepared for.鈥
The prospect of a digital war is a very real prospect in Europe, which has employed strict regulations to police American technology companies, and officials have mused about responding to U.S. tariffs by further tightening the screws on tech firms.
The French search engine project, which is set to launch in the coming weeks, involves gathering and indexing its own library of internet sites that prioritize French-language sources, produce results that are better adapted to European users and respect Europe鈥檚 strict digital regulations.
Shortly after, a German-language version will be rolled out by , Qwant鈥檚 Berlin-based, climate-friendly partner, which has used its profits to purchase and plant more than 200 million trees around the world ().
Ecosia founder Christian Kroll, left, and Qwant chief executive Olivier Abecassis, right,聽have partnered to create a European-focused search engine meant to serve as a firewall against American technology dominance.
With resistance to Trump鈥檚 tariff-and-trade tyranny growing, their timing could hardly be better.
Abecassis has no pretensions about becoming the European Google, or of taking more than a fraction of the 90 per cant market share that the world鈥檚 leading search-engine currently claims.
But he is hopeful that Qwant can serve as an alternative to internet users who are concerned about being tracked and targeted by advertisers, about being manipulated by American algorithms or who simply want to reduce the amount of money that goes toward U.S. companies.
鈥淚n the context of Trump, Google is not Tesla or Twitter,鈥 he said, referring to the car and social-media company run by Elon Musk, who has controversially promoted far-right political parties and took a post in the Trump administration to cut government spending. 鈥淏ut there are people who just want something else.鈥
That鈥檚 a familiar sentiment in Canada, where the Buy Canadian 鈥 or Boycott American 鈥 campaign has been raging since the first threats of tariffs emerged, and has only ramped up due to Trump鈥檚 insistence that Canada should become the 51st state.
Canadians have cancelled trips down south, cleared American booze from liquor store shelves and barred American companies from bidding on government contracts.
But most of the technology ties that bind Canada to America are currently too critical to sever.
Though Ontario Premier Doug Ford cancelled a $100-million contract for internet services provided by Musk鈥檚 Starlink in reaction to American tariffs on Canada, several other provinces and territories say they have no option but to rely on the company for remote and emergency communications, particularly in the north.
Canada鈥檚 Privacy Commissioner has also raised concerns about how technology and social media companies collect, store and share user information as well as about the threats of Artificial Intelligence to privacy and data protection.
But Canadians haven鈥檛 X鈥檇 Musk鈥檚 X, unfriended Facebook or traded in TikTok for more ethical, responsible or reliable sources of news, entertainment or connection.
Hatfield, of Open Media, said most Canadians are unaware that the cables carrying their digital information cross the border on their way from sender to recipient, or that personal data can be stored in data centres in the U.S., where it is subject to American laws, far from any Canadian protections.
鈥淐anada has just always been able to assume that the rule of law applies just as equally here in Canada as in the U.S. and there really wasn鈥檛 a huge difference about having material in one area or the other,鈥 he said.
That na茂vet茅 began to change with the 2013 revelations of Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency whistleblower who exposed how the U.S. spies on internet users.
That incident told Canadians that quite different things happen with our data in the U.S., Hatfield said. 鈥淎nd, of course, the tariff situation is making us look at it differently again.鈥
Though territorial and economic sovereignty have been the major issues for party leaders in the ongoing federal election campaign, none of the parties have yet released policy proposals to protect or bolster Canada鈥檚 digital sovereignty.
Liberal leader Mark Carney, during , noted that information warfare, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence all need to be considered in questions dealing with national security.
鈥淚t is crucial that we鈥檙e building these capabilities on Canadian technology, to Canadian values, to protect Canadians, because we can鈥檛 rely on foreign suppliers for them,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hat is one of the new realities that are there.鈥
Open Media released a with a number of proposals. The group urges the next government to invest in internet infrastructure so that more traffic and data remain in Canada.
It urges better privacy protection for users and stricter regulations for artificial intelligence, the algorithms used by technology companies. And it suggests Canada ban surveillance-based advertising by companies as well as facial recognition or biometric identification.
鈥淥ur intention 鈥 is not just to influence the conversation during the election, but to really lay out a plan for the next government,鈥 Hatfield said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to continue to lobby whoever is elected that they need to take these issues seriously.鈥
Certainly, the American technology companies are taking it seriously.
In his , former president Joe Biden warned about the dangers posed by 鈥渢he potential rise of a tech-industrial complex鈥 in the country spreading misinformation, undermining democracy and telling 鈥渓ies 鈥 for power and for profit.鈥
A few days later, the founding members of that tech oligarchy 鈥 Meta鈥檚 Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon鈥檚 Jeff Bezos, Google boss Sundar Pichai and Musk 鈥 enjoyed front-row seats at Trump鈥檚 inauguration.
Back in Paris, and preparing for the imminent roll-out of his company鈥檚 Europe-focused gateway to the web, Qwant鈥檚 Abecassis dispelled the notion that the technology that drives a search engine is somehow neutral.
鈥淪earch engines are political. They are representations of the web 鈥 a form of understanding 鈥 but not the only one,鈥 he said.
鈥淚s the Google of today political with its search results? It鈥檚 more commercial than political, but could it become political tomorrow because of the evolution of the United States? It鈥檚 possible.鈥
