Privacy-focused web browser Brave has surpassed XNUMX million monthly active users for the first time, the company said.
In a weblog post, Brave claims the milestone marks the fifth time the browser's user base has doubled in as many years. The service also currently attracts more than fifteen million daily active users, another noteworthy point.
Brave provides a range of new features and products for progressive development, including an integrated crypto wallet and private search engine. But the company has also acknowledged that it has benefited from broader consumer trends.
“Users all over the planet are looking for a private, secure and faster browsing experience, as tools that give them independence from big technology. This long-term sustainable development reflects this desire of the users”, affirmed Brave.
A paradigm shift?
The adoption of browsers, VPNs, proxies, encrypted email and other privacy tools in recent times heralds a change in attitude that could have major ramifications for the largest technology companies on the planet, whose activities depend on the collection of large amounts of data. .
Since the Snowden leaks and the Cambridge Analytica scandal in particular, public awareness of the relevance of data privacy has risen sharply. Users are generally more wary of the information they share with big tech companies and more knowledgeable about how their information is used and monetized in the data economy.
We believe that this trend will soon start to take hold more clearly in the web browser market. Today, Chrome dominates the space with a market share of XNUMX%, followed by Apple's Safari (XNUMX%) and Microsoft Edge (XNUMX%). Nonetheless, privacy-focused services operated by smaller players are starting to gain momentum.
Although Brave's fifty million user base is only 1% of the market, according to Statista's total web user data, its growth rate is going to make Google think twice. And this despite the inherent drawbacks; This writer can attest that Brave routinely disrupts website functionality due to its zero tolerance cookie policy.
Although Google has proven to advance its privacy practices and plan the demise of third-party cookies, proposed alternative options like FLoC have been rejected by privacy advocates, who say the solutions create as many inconveniences as they solve.
There is also plenty of evidence that big tech companies still cannot be trusted to safeguard user interests. This week, for example, Google and Facebook were sentenced to essential fines for violations of European privacy laws related to cookies. Users' patience is probably wearing thin.