As the CEO of Tuta Mail, an encrypted email service that TechCrunch has called the "encrypted Gmail alternative," I welcome the Department of Justice’s bold move to rein in Google’s dominance. This landmark decision isn’t just about regulating a single company — it’s about standing up for fairness, competition, and a healthier internet ecosystem.
At Tuta, we’ve seen firsthand how Google’s monopolistic practices harm smaller players. Earlier this year, our website tuta.com was suddenly deranked in Google’s search results without warning or explanation.
This was a huge problem for us: As a small competitor to Gmail, we need to be visible online, particularly via search results so that people looking for secure and private email solutions actually have the chance of finding our service and signing up for a free email account.
Overnight, our visibility dropped dramatically, stifling our growth and forcing us to compete on an uneven playing field. This experience highlighted the sheer power Google has over who sees what on the internet. Google’s power has become so large that companies today pay Google (via Google Search Ads) so that their company’s website is placed first when people - guess what - search on Google for this exact company!