‘Access to information is a human right.’ 

Search engines hold the key to information, knowledge, education, commerce, and public debate on the internet. As critical infrastructure, they have a big effect on what information people can see online and what stays hidden. They affect how we find information, the opinions we form, and how we take part in discussions about society.

Web search is broken. Just a few big companies from the USA, Russia and China control web search. They decide what billions of people can find online. They collect huge amounts of personal personal data about what we search for and how we behave online. This is bad for free speech, society, and democracy.

This threatens our democratic society. We live in times of increasing disinformation, political division, and international tensions, and with more and more power being held by individual companies. We need to protect diversity of opinion, social cohesion, and democratic participation.

We can still change this – but we need to act now. We can still reshape how information flows in our society. Without intervention, corporate interests of a few will continue to override public good in determining what information people see.

Current developments highlight the urgency of the situation: A US court confirmed Google has a monopoly but barely punished them. The US threatens Europe for trying to regulate big tech companies. New AI search tools are creating the same monopoly problems all over again.

The main problems are: • Too few companies control search • We don't know how search results are generated • Extensive data collection without meaningful user control • We get trapped in ‘filter bubbles’ that hide different views • No one holds these companies accountable.

This petition demands web search that serve everyone – open, diverse, private, and answerable to the public. Together, we can make sure this essential service works for all of us, not just powerful companies.