Qwant is a French search engine operated by Qwant SAS (Paris), majority-owned since a June 2023 acquisition by Synfonium, a group formed by OVHcloud founder Octave Klaba (via Jezby Ventures and Deep Code, 75%) together with Banque des Territoires / Groupe Caisse des Dépôts (25%). Qwant's own privacy policy states it can be used without creating an account, in which case ads are contextual only (based on the entered keywords) rather than profile-based, and it identifies users only through a salted hash of the IP address (salt rotated at least every three months) rather than the raw address, with aggregated data retained up to 25 months. Its results and ad delivery still depend on Microsoft: signed-in, consenting users can receive Microsoft-Advertising profile-based ads and Microsoft receives a salted IP hash, User Agent and a Qwant-generated token to serve search results and ads. Qwant also runs Piwik Pro analytics, which by Qwant's own description builds user profiles from browsing history and usage metrics. In February 2025 the French data-protection authority (CNIL) published a formal legal reminder ('rappel aux obligations légales') based on a 2019 finding that data Qwant transmitted to Microsoft, though salted/truncated, was personal data and not anonymous as Qwant's then-current privacy policy claimed; Qwant revised its privacy policy in 2020 following the investigation, and no fine was issued.
TRACK RECORD
1 ENFORCEMENT ACTION
[2025-02-11]
The CNIL (France's data-protection authority) published a decision dated 11 February 2025 stating that, based on investigations from 2019, it 'prononce un rappel aux obligations legales a l'encontre de la societe' (issues a reminder of legal obligations to the company) because data Qwant transmitted to Microsoft -- though technical measures like truncated/hashed IP addresses were applied -- could not be qualified as anonymous; Qwant revised its privacy policy in 2020 following the CNIL's investigation, and the outcome was a corrective reminder rather than a fine.
As assessed by PrivacySpy on 2020-06-24 (see PrivacySpy's rubric entry for this product for the per-claim citation): Does the service collect personal data from third parties? — Yes, but for critical data only.
Qwant's privacy policy states that among the data it processes is a 'salted hash of the IP address (with a salt changing at least every three months)' rather than the raw IP address; a pseudonymous identifier tied to entered keywords and the salted IP hash is retained for 1 month, after which keywords are de-identified and retained 12 months in aggregate for statistics, and other data is aggregated and retained by Qwant for 25 months.
As assessed by PrivacySpy on 2020-06-24 (see PrivacySpy's rubric entry for this product for the per-claim citation): Does the policy outline the service's general security practices? — Somewhat.
French trade press reported that OVHcloud founder Octave Klaba officially signed an acquisition agreement for Qwant in June 2023 to build 'Synfonium', with the new group '75% owned by Octave and Miroslaw Klaba through their respective companies Jezby Ventures and Deep Code, while Banque des Territoires (Groupe Caisse des Depots) holds a 25% stake' -- this parent-ownership chain is not stated on Qwant's own corporate pages.
Qwant's legal notices page identifies the operating company as 'QWANT', a Societe par actions simplifiee registered as RCS Paris n. B 532 867 256, headquartered at 42 Avenue de la Porte de Clichy, Paris, with legal representative and publication director Olivier Abecassis -- a mandatory-registry-traceable corporate identity published on Qwant's own site.
As assessed by PrivacySpy on 2020-06-24 (see PrivacySpy's rubric entry for this product for the per-claim citation): Does the policy allow personally-targeted or behavioral marketing? — No.
Qwant's privacy policy states that for signed-in, consenting users, Microsoft Advertising 'use[s] your Device and browsing data to present you with ads based on your advertising profiles', with Microsoft acting as an independent data controller and profiles retained up to 18 months; by contrast, without a User Account, Qwant states it serves only contextual ads based on entered keywords, with no cookies and no targeted advertising.
The CNIL (France's data-protection authority) published a decision dated 11 February 2025 stating that, based on investigations from 2019, it 'prononce un rappel aux obligations legales a l'encontre de la societe' (issues a reminder of legal obligations to the company) because data Qwant transmitted to Microsoft -- though technical measures like truncated/hashed IP addresses were applied -- could not be qualified as anonymous; Qwant revised its privacy policy in 2020 following the CNIL's investigation, and the outcome was a corrective reminder rather than a fine.
The App Privacy label for Qwant's iOS app (App Store id924470452) declares no 'Data Used to Track You' category; the only categories listed are under 'Data Not Linked to You' -- Analytics, Identifiers, Device ID, Usage Data and Product Interaction.
Qwant's privacy policy states it works with 'Piwik Pro Analytics Suite to collect statistical data on Site users based on online identifiers' and that Qwant 'create[s] user profiles based on browsing history and usage metrics such as bounce rate and pages viewed', with this data obfuscated and retained by Piwik Pro for 25 months -- first-party analytics, but explicitly profile-building.