Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 15, 2026

Open Search Foundation

The Open Search Foundation (OSF) is a European nonprofit organization promoting internet freedom.

Last revised
Jun 15, 2026
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Wikipedia ↗

The Open Search Foundation (OSF) is a European nonprofit organization promoting internet freedom.

In 2019, the Open Search Foundation published a report advocating for open search infrastructure.1 In 2020, the newly-formed group2 was advocating for the creation of a common index to underpin European search engines.3 OSF became a lead organizer of the Open Web Index, an open-sourced search index designed to allow for a nonprofit alternative to the dominant indexes, giving users more choice and agency in searching the web for information.456 The foundation has organized sessions about the values that should be part of the web index7 as well as a working group to investigate the legal challenges that would need to be addressed.8

See also

See also

References

References

  1. Lewandowski, Dirk (2023), "The Future of Search", Understanding Search Engines, Springer International Publishing, pp. 275–282, doi:10.1007/978-3-031-22789-9_16, ISBN 978-3-031-22788-2, retrieved 2026-05-15{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  2. Mager, Astrid (January 2023). "European Search? How to counter-imagine and counteract hegemonic search with European search engine projects". Big Data & Society. 10 (1). doi:10.1177/20539517231163173. ISSN 2053-9517.
  3. Wakabayashi, Daisuke (2020-12-14). "Google Dominates Thanks to an Unrivaled View of the Web". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-05-15. In Europe, a group called the Open Search Foundation has proposed a plan to create a common internet index that can underpin many European search engines. It's essential to have a diversity of options for search results, said Stefan Voigt, the group's chairman and founder, because it is not good for only a handful of companies to determine what links people are shown and not shown.
  4. "Title: 42 months in the making: OpenWebSearch.EU project end results look promising!". OpenWebSearch.eu – Promoting Europe‘s Independence in Web Search. 2026-04-04. Retrieved 2026-05-15.
  5. Rice, Kezia (2026-02-02). "Fighting the Search Monopoly With an Open Source Index: An Interview With Michael Granitzer From OpenWebSearch". Digital for Good | RESET.ORG. Retrieved 2026-05-15.
  6. Soares, Joana (2025-11-17). "Google owns the queries, but Europe wants its search infrastructure back". EU Perspectives. Retrieved 2026-05-15.
  7. Ridgway, Renée (2025). "Designing digital sovereignty—an open federated EU web index for search". Communication +1 (journal). 11 (2). doi:10.7275/CPO.2245. ISSN 2380-6109.
  8. Erenli, Kai; Geminn, Christian; Pfeiffer, Leon (June 2021). "Legal challenges of an open web index". International Cybersecurity Law Review. 2 (1): 183–194. doi:10.1365/s43439-021-00017-8. ISSN 2662-9720.
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