Kagi search engine working with Russia
Kagi search engine working with Russia
Swedish author and famous pro-Ukraine blogger Lars Wilderäng (Cornucopia) reports today that the Swedish security expert Karl Emil Nikka has revealed that Kagi is using the Kremlin propaganda tool Yandex as a backend for searches.
Wilderäng speculates this might mean search terms are leaking to Russia, while others worry about how Kremlin thus can get their talking points into western search results.
Security expert Karl Emil Nikka tells us that the search engine Kagi, popular among tech geeks, uses Russian Yandex, which was introduced after the full-scale invasion. This, of course, gives Russia the opportunity to look at what is searched for via Kagi.
Link (in Swedish), see 11:22 update: https://cornucopia.se/2024/10/uppdateras-ryssland-medger-bruk-av-c-stridsmedel-mot-ukraina-rysk-pilot-som-mordade-68-ukrainare-ihjalslagen-med-hammare-bland-de-allra-storsta-ryska-forlusterna-under-kriget-igar/
I expected something more shocking when I read "working with Russia".
Kagi uses multiple search backends, and of course it needs to forward search terms to these backends. These backends probably can't trace the searches back to the individual Kagi user though, but Yandex could still analyze search trends for example.
What's worse is that - unless they use Yandex' API for free - customers indirectly (and likely unknowingly) support a Russian company with their paid Kagi subscription.
Kagi should at the very least release a statement about this claim.
It’s not a fucking reveal, Kagi tells you exactly what engines they include in their results.
Do they? I remember seeing this in the past but can't find the information anymore. Now they only say "all major search providers" and that was part of the criticism in this "reveal". That they have become more opaque rather than being transparent about it.
This is all the official info I could find. Please share if anyone can find anything more. https://help.kagi.com/kagi/search-details/search-sources.html
You know what? DuckDuckGo uses Yahoo results, they must be working with the US government! What a nonesense.
Yandex is a really good search engine 🤷♂️
Many of Yandex’s employees resigned in protest, accusing the company of serving as a tool of Kremlin propaganda and actively concealing information about the war.
Every search engine ever is biased in the results it will show you.
You have to learn the biases and not fall prey to them.
If you think you're using an unbiased source then all you've done is failed to recognize them.
Go search palestine or ukraine on google news and tell me if you see unbiased news 😉
they are also worki g with the us 🙄
Similar controversy when Kagi added Brave search.
Hmmm keeping an eye on this thank you.
oof
And I was just thinking about getting a subscription.
Time to selfhost SearXNG instead.
Ugh politics again. I hope the admins take this down very soon.
I have to admit - coming from a lemmy.ml user, this made me chuckle.
Still not possible to transfer your account to other instances. https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/1985
Lemmy.ml is known for terrible moderation but I chose it just because I was new and it was official. Now I'd probably choose something else.
It's more about the fact that kagi pays yandex and yandex pays taxes to one of the craziest goverment in the world