I have seen many people in this community either talking about switching to Brave, or people who are actively using Brave. I would like to remind people that Brave browser (and by extension their search engine) is not privacy-centric whatsoever.
Brave was already ousted as spyware in the past and the company has made many decisions that are questionable at best. For example, Brave made a cryptocurrency which they then added to a rewards program that is built into the browser to encourage you to enable ads that are controlled by Brave.
Edit: Please be aware that the spyware article on Brave (and the rest of the browsers on the site) is outdated and may not reflect the browser as it is today.
After creating this cryptocurrency and rewards program, they started inserting affiliate codes into URL’s. Prior to this they had faked fundraising for popular social media creators.
Do these decisions seem like ones a company that cares about their users (and by extension their privacy) would make? I’d say the answer is a very clear no.
One last thing, Brave illegally promoted an eToro affiliate program making a fortune from its users who will likely lose their money.
Edit: To the people commenting saying how Brave has a good out-of-the-box experience compared to other browsers, yes, it does. However, this is not a warning for your average person, this is a warning for people who actively care about their privacy and don’t mind configuring their browser to maximize said privacy.
Privacy is a political subject.
To be fair, nearly everything is/ has been/ can be a political topic. Two of the more ridiculous ones (IMO) I can think of are video games and D&D.
Please educate me. Why is it political?
Because governments and corporations all over the world are trying to hollow out privacy?
Easy. You put your personal shit on the internet then after you get into an argument with a groyped up nazi, they look up your information which is easily accessible and know more about you than a close friend would. You’re starting to get a little harassment but you’re quick to block, but it just keeps coming and coming and coming. Eventually they find out that you’re like 0.00001% jewish then lie about your family history as justification to take things to the next level. You get constant death threats until one faithful day one of them shows up at your doorstep to lynch you. They shoot you dead and the cops let them off the hook because of course they do. All because you freely posted all your personal information on the internet for any freak to see.
Think that’s an extreme example? It literally happens all the time. The only reason I’m still around is because I keep that shit private so it never gets past the first step, but there’s been plenty of others who weren’t so lucky when it came to that sort of thing.