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Don't be evil (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 week ago by to c/memes@lemmy.world
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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/oct/28/google-alphabet-q3-earnings-report

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[–] 10 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I don't think users would ever be in a position to cover the many hundreds of billions in revenue that Google found. Yeah, somebody has to pay the running costs, but there's a place where the search engine could exist by just covering the running costs, without making infinite profit on top.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago* (2 children)

    Yeah, somebody has to pay the running costs, but there’s a place where the search engine could exist by just covering the running costs, without making infinite profit on top.

    People have tried and went out of business, because users predominantly do not want to pay for something they could (supposedly) get for free, doubly so if the paid version isn't even significantly better. It sounds nice, but it hasn't been true for the last 20 years or so.

    The current funding model didn't come out of nowhere, it's the consequence of user behavior. Personally, I would e.g. support a search engine as a public service funded through EU budget, but I'm in a tiny minority with that opinion.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 week ago

    Personally, I would e.g. support a search engine as a public service funded through EU budget, but I’m in a tiny minority with that opinion.

    I would get behind that, rather than pay some private company I do not trust. At least something EU-controlled, would be a bit more trusthworthy, than some shady business from who knows where and under what actual ownership. I do not trust company privacy policies at all anymore, all of them are lying as much as they can, since there are no real repercussions for it, except losing paying customers - which they will not lose, since they are able to lie as much as they want.

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