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The DeGoogle movement (also called the de-Google movement) is a
grassroots campaign A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...
that has spawned as privacy advocates urge users to stop using
Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
products entirely due to growing privacy concerns regarding the company. The term refers to the act of removing Google from one's life. As the growing
market share Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those units would have a ...
of the internet giant creates
monopolistic A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a spec ...
power for the company in digital spaces, increasing numbers of
journalists A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
have noted the difficulty to find alternatives to the company's products. Some projects, such as
ungoogled-chromium ungoogled-chromium is a free and open-source variant of the Chromium web browser that removes all Google-specific web services. It achieves this with a series of patches applied to the Chromium codebase during the compilation process. The ...
, primarily distinguish themselves from Google-maintained products by their lessened dependence on the company's infrastructure. It can be seen as part of a broader opposition to
big tech Big Tech, also known as the Tech Giants, refers to the most dominant companies in the information technology industry, mostly located in the United States. The term also refers to the four or five largest American tech companies, called the Big ...
companies, sometimes referred to as "techlash."


History

In 2008, Len Hinman began making the move away from Google tools, 'in the interests of privacy', and blogged about his experience. In 2010, publisher
Jack Yan Jack Yan (; born 1972) is a New Zealand publisher, designer and businessman. He is best known as the founder and publisher of '' Lucire''. He ran for mayor of Wellington in 2010, and again in 2013, but was unsuccessful in both elections. Backg ...
used the term as he cited privacy concerns about Google. In 2013, John Koetsier of Venturebeat said
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
's Kindle Fire Android-based tablet was "a de-Google-ized version of Android." In 2014 John Simpson of US News wrote about the “
right to be forgotten The right to be forgotten (RTBF) is the right to have private information about a person be removed from Internet searches and other directories under some circumstances. The concept has been discussed and put into practice in several jurisdiction ...
” by Google and other search engines. In 2015, Derek Scally of Irish Times wrote an article on how to "De-Google your life." In 2016 Kris Carlon of Android Authority suggested that users of CyanogenMod 14 could “de-Google” their phones, because CyanogenMod works fine without Google apps too. In 2018 Nick Lucchesi of Inverse wrote about how ProtonMail was promoting how to "be able to completely de-Google-fy your life.” ''
Lifehacker ''Lifehacker'' is a weblog about life hacks and software that launched on January 31, 2005. The site was originally launched by Gawker Media and is currently owned by G/O Media. The blog posts cover a wide range of topics including: Microsoft W ...
'''s Brendan Hesse wrote a detailed tutorial on "quitting Google."
Gizmodo ''Gizmodo'' ( ) is a design, technology, science and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton, and runs on the Kinja platform. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the subsite ''io9'', whic ...
journalist Kashmir Hill claims that she missed meetings and had difficulties organizing meet ups without the use of
Google Calendar Google Calendar is a time-management and scheduling calendar service developed by Google. It became available in beta release April 13, 2006, and in general release in July 2009, on the web and as mobile apps for the Android and iOS platforms. ...
. In 2019,
Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smar ...
gave a refund to phone owners in the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
who were inhibited from using services provided by
Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
because so few alternatives exist that the absence of the company's products made normal internet use unfeasible. In 2020,
Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smar ...
launched
Petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...
as an alternative to Google Search. Also in 2020, Kashmir Hill wrote an article on avoiding large tech companies in which she discussed how disabling Google prevented her from using
Dropbox Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, U.S. that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and Client (computing), client software. Dropb ...
,
Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...
,
Lyft Lyft, Inc. offers mobility as a service, ride-hailing, vehicles for hire, motorized scooters, a bicycle-sharing system, rental cars, and food delivery in the United States and select cities in Canada. Lyft sets fares, which vary using a dyn ...
, and
Yelp Yelp Inc. is an American company that develops the Yelp.com website and the Yelp mobile app, which publish crowd-sourced reviews about businesses. It also operates Yelp Guest Manager, a table reservation service. It is headquartered in San Fra ...
, and described Amazon and Google as "so embedded in the architecture of the digital world that even their competitors had to rely on their services." In 2022, comic artist and activist Leah Elliott published a
Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...
web comic criticizing
Google Chrome Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS ...
's privacy practices, entitled "Contra Chrome."


See also

*
Criticism of Google Criticism of Google includes concern for tax avoidance, misuse and manipulation of search results, its use of others' intellectual property, concerns that its compilation of data may violate people's privacy and collaboration with the US milita ...
*
Big Tech Big Tech, also known as the Tech Giants, refers to the most dominant companies in the information technology industry, mostly located in the United States. The term also refers to the four or five largest American tech companies, called the Big ...
*
Alt-tech Alt-tech are social media platforms and Internet service providers that have become popular among the alt-right, far-right, and others who espouse extreme or fringe opinions, in the belief that these alternatives moderate content less stringe ...


References


External Links

* Framasoft's internet degoogling project
Degooglisons-internet
Internet privacy Human rights Criticism of Google Boycotts of organizations {{Google-stub