What are the alternatives to Google & Chrome ? 

There's a lot of truth in old expressions such as 'Don't put your eggs in one basket.'

Defend still uses many of the big names, but then again we have to be aware  of how they operate, but we'd be fools not to try and establish systems in case a server catches fire or a satellite gets switched off.

People are wonderfully resourceful and will return to megaphones, fax machines, leaflets, coffee houses and invisible ink to maintain fairer free speech if necessary -  and the good people will always win through, despite the struggles we hope they don't have to endure. 

There's been many previous trust issues for communications-related systems originating from China or Russia and even our own nations much closer to home, but there's now an increasing spotlight on the USA  from both within and beyond.

This is  partly due to what's seen by some as a more 'robust' (at best) or aggressive (at worst) stance being adopted by the country's Trump administration including key players such as President Donald Trump himself and Vice President JD Vance. 

There's similar concern about the conduct of some major amnd wealthy American corporates involved in communications that play a part in free speech and freedom of expression.

These companies include X, (formerly known as Twitter), and now owned by Elon Musk. He is well documented as having worked collaboratively with Trump at the White House. His company Space X is establishing an extensive communications satellite network called Starlink operating in over 160 countries and the emerging use of algorithms and AI on his social media platform X to control what is seen and by whom. In fact we have to admit that the whole reason  for Defend emerging was due to unusual activities noticed in the UK regarding Musk.

Defend has previously suggested Governments and consumers should spend a moment reflecting on what powers key communications providers and media owners might be able to wield in exceptional circumstances and would urge everyone to ensure they have alternatives or back-up plans, just incase the unexpected and unthinkable actually happens.

'fake' and 'truth'

When this page was first created by Defend in 2026, other providers of free speech were also under scrutiny for many energing reasons such as child data protection, child safety and the proliferation of inaccurate information designed to confuse and mislead people  about free speech and what it really is. References to 'fake' and 'truth' are now deeply suspicious and unhelpful and these once innocent concepts are now part of the problem.

Accuracy

The only measure in achieving fairer free speech is accuracy, and without the use of hate speech silencing the voices of people who should be heard as a right.

The list of companies facing increased scrutiny involves many more familiar and previously loved names from the USA  including Meta,  the provider of everyday platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. The world has yet to properly investigate how this corporation  may have the abilty to  cleverly merge  different bits of personal date  eequired to create  accounts to get a very thorough picture of individuals, for whatever reason.

Defend will work with any Government and corporation in an effort to help them improve and explore ideas to strengthen free speech for democracy.

No Government is perfect, but we are concerned about certain tactics seemingly being used used to manipulate the notion of free speech and the extent to which it gets heard and delivered.

We talk elsewhere on this site about the threats to free speech. Defend's preference is to urge people to remember we should ultimately strive for fairer free speech as free speech is in reality,  an ideal or a dream that can never totally be reached in its purest form (type 'fairer' into our search to find out more).

Defend is also cponcerned a rise inthe level of attempts by one country to destbleise existing systems of free speech in another country. This is something under surveillance in the UK in particular.

We are currently a very new and very small independent but charitable entity but we increasingly realise how big the topic of free speech for democracy is becoming across the world and not just the UK where we started. We will work hard within our means. But we could do so much more with donations and volunteers based anywhere in the world, or in London where we started . All contributions from all sources are welcome as long as given unconditionally to retain our independence according to our Manifesto to protect  

Please email Jason at hello@defendUK.uk We can also share ideas and resources with other people thinking about establishing Defend campaigns in their own locations or countries. Working together strengthens the protection we can give each other.

There's more background on the emerging issues if you visit Defend's News section or type in keywords into this wbsite's search facilty (look for the magnifying glass usually at the top of pages.