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Microsoft Edge sets Yandex as default search engine in Moldova

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Re: Microsoft Edge sets Yandex as default search engine in Moldova

#71

Post by smsm42 »

AdrenalinMd wrote: post #2

Microsoft signed a deal in 2015 to set Yandex as the default search engine in several countries close to Russia. The article mentions "Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Ukraine". The list is not exhaustive, as I know about Moldova and Georgia. https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-partners-russias-ya... The list includes Ukraine! I've tested Edge with Ukraine as a Region on my MacOS, and it no longer appears to set it to Ya…

I love it how Russians paid Microsoft to make Russian search engine default in Ukraine, without asking Ukrainians, and nobody in Microsoft thought there's anything wrong with that.

Re: Microsoft Edge sets Yandex as default search engine in Moldova

#72

Post by lockhouse »

osterbit2 wrote: post #65
lockhouse wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The parent of your comment brings up a valid point though. The Western media pushing divisive narratives is a major problem, that is already starting to tear apart the social fabric of Western society. I don't know what the solution is, but it sure isn't "herr durr, move to Russia!" You understand that a cartel of traditional and social media companies worked with the FBI and intelligence agencies to push a false nar…

I just want to point out that some of the statements in your comment seem to be presented as facts when they are actually heavily disputed. > "a cartel of traditional and social media companies worked with the FBI and intelligence agencies to push a false narrative (the fake Steele dossier, paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign)" - while there are differing opinions on the veracity of this claim, it's important to…

What I stated is true.

The Dossier is a fake, and it was paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign. The FBI also reached an agreement to pay Cristopher Steele $1 million to continue work on the dossier. Apparently this deal was scrapped and the payment never went through, but again, this is pretty disturbing that it went that far.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/25/us/politics/steele-dossie...

Also, the Hunter Biden laptop has been confirmed to be authentic and not Russian disinformation. The story was originally broken by the NY Post, but it was heavily suppressed by other media outlets and the NY Post’s social media accounts were blocked, as were those of pretty much anyone that attempted to share the story. The Intelligence community worked pretty much in lockstep to discredit the laptop as Russian disinformation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_Biden_laptop_controvers...

(Yes, I know Wikipedia, but the only sources that really reported on it are Conservative-leaning media outlets like NY Post, Fox News, and Daily Wire, so I thought Wikipedia would be considered a bit more neutral.)

Re: Microsoft Edge sets Yandex as default search engine in Moldova

#73

Post by smsm42 »

litiholofan wrote: post #3

I use yandex over google/bing. Works well for western censored content - however it does have a clear disinfo bent for english language searches. I still prefer it over google simply because it returns results like google used to in 2010 or so lol. Give it a go, you'll see what I mean.

If you live in the west, FSB having all your data probably doesn't matter, they have more urgent issues that you. If you live next door to Russia and have Russian troops stationed in part of your county occupied by Russia-supported bandits, your calculus may be a bit different.

Re: Microsoft Edge sets Yandex as default search engine in Moldova

#74

Post by smsm42 »

slaw wrote: post #50
litiholofan wrote: post #3

I use yandex over google/bing. Works well for western censored content - however it does have a clear disinfo bent for english language searches. I still prefer it over google simply because it returns results like google used to in 2010 or so lol. Give it a go, you'll see what I mean.

I use Yandex sometimes for the same reasons, it is like Google from 2010, image search still works and old personal websites are still indexed. Is Yandex still Russian company or is it detached from Russia like Jetbrains and Telegram?

Yandex used to pretend they are a global company (even had an office in Silicon Valley) but in 2022 this came to an end, as you cannot run business in both Russia and civilized world at the same time. So, Yandex is now Russian and thus controlled by the same thugs that control everything else there.

Re: Microsoft Edge sets Yandex as default search engine in Moldova

#75

Post by smsm42 »

randomname93857 wrote: post #5
litiholofan wrote: post #3

I use yandex over google/bing. Works well for western censored content - however it does have a clear disinfo bent for english language searches. I still prefer it over google simply because it returns results like google used to in 2010 or so lol. Give it a go, you'll see what I mean.

yandex and RT are the top of rus disinformation and anti-west/divisive content.

"Divisive" is a slur for dissent, so I'd avoid leaning on it too readily. That said, RT et al are a pile of state propaganda shit peppered on top with selected western dissenters to make it look like they are a legit alternative. Eating a pile of shit just to feel that peppery taste banned from PC media is not something I'd personally enjoy doing, but to each their own I guess.

Re: Microsoft Edge sets Yandex as default search engine in Moldova

#76

Post by smsm42 »

thiscatis wrote: post #9
litiholofan wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've experienced more divisive content from western media itself than overt anti-west stuff from RT or yandex lmao.

Feel free to move to Russia if you don’t live there already and you’ll no longer have to worry about being exposed to western media!

Russia has a long standing tradition of expelling dissenters from the country (if murdering them proves inconvenient for some reason). I guess some in the West want to culturally appropriate this tradition. I'd prefer restoring freedom of speech, tbh.

Re: Microsoft Edge sets Yandex as default search engine in Moldova

#77

Post by caskstrength »

AdrenalinMd wrote: post #2

Microsoft signed a deal in 2015 to set Yandex as the default search engine in several countries close to Russia. The article mentions "Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Ukraine". The list is not exhaustive, as I know about Moldova and Georgia. https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-partners-russias-ya... The list includes Ukraine! I've tested Edge with Ukraine as a Region on my MacOS, and it no longer appears to set it to Ya…

> The list includes Ukraine! I've tested Edge with Ukraine as a Region on my MacOS, and it no longer appears to set it to Yandex.

Yandex has been banned in Ukraine for some time now, so no point for MS to still have it as default search.

Re: Microsoft Edge sets Yandex as default search engine in Moldova

#78

Post by smsm42 »

osterbit2 wrote: post #65
lockhouse wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The parent of your comment brings up a valid point though. The Western media pushing divisive narratives is a major problem, that is already starting to tear apart the social fabric of Western society. I don't know what the solution is, but it sure isn't "herr durr, move to Russia!" You understand that a cartel of traditional and social media companies worked with the FBI and intelligence agencies to push a false nar…

I just want to point out that some of the statements in your comment seem to be presented as facts when they are actually heavily disputed. > "a cartel of traditional and social media companies worked with the FBI and intelligence agencies to push a false narrative (the fake Steele dossier, paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign)" - while there are differing opinions on the veracity of this claim, it's important to…

The fact the FB and twitter worked with intelligence and politicians to suppress dissent is not some opinion, it's a documented confirmed fact. Denying the facts is not "opinion" , it's just lying. Same for Hunter laptop BTW- they had the ultimate evidence, the laptop itself. FBI had it, and lied about it. That's a fact. We didn't know it's a fact back in 2020, but now we do. So let's not pretend as there are some matters of opinion here - there are facts, and there are lies.

Re: Microsoft Edge sets Yandex as default search engine in Moldova

#79

Post by mistrial9 »

smsm42 wrote: post #73
litiholofan wrote: post #3

I use yandex over google/bing. Works well for western censored content - however it does have a clear disinfo bent for english language searches. I still prefer it over google simply because it returns results like google used to in 2010 or so lol. Give it a go, you'll see what I mean.

If you live in the west, FSB having all your data probably doesn't matter, they have more urgent issues that you. If you live next door to Russia and have Russian troops stationed in part of your county occupied by Russia-supported bandits, your calculus may be a bit different.

> FSB having all your data probably doesn't matter

says who?

Re: Microsoft Edge sets Yandex as default search engine in Moldova

#80

Post by jaynetics »

sidibe wrote: post #66
jaynetics wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank goodness edge's market share is very low in these countries. About 2% for Moldova [1]. For MSFT, this is a huge embarrassment, reminiscent of Google's infamous "project dragonfly". And they deleted your inquiry on their forums for "violating the community guidelines"! Not exactly PR geniuses, are they? [1] https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share/all/moldova

It's bizarre that the nixed Project Dragonfly is a considered a bigger embarrassment than Bing working continuously to this day in China.

I made the comparison with Dragonfly because they had special features planned to make users more easily identifiable for the PRC government, thus the similarity with this MSFT/Yandex situation.

Are you aware of Bing doing anything like this? (I think it's bad enough that they take part in censorship, don't get me wrong.)

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