Assessing Legal Risks and Mitigating Challenges in Open Web Indexes

The digital infrastructure that underpins web search today is shaped by a small number of powerful, proprietary platforms. These platforms not only mediate access to information but also shape public discourse, economic visibility, and digital innovation across sectors. In response to growing concerns over transparency, concentration of power, and the absence of European sovereignty in this critical domain, the OpenWebSearch.eu initiative was launched with the vision to create a public, open, and legally sustainable web indexing infrastructure for Europe.The ALMASTIC White Paper supports this vision by exploring the complex legal ecosystem in which such an initiative must operate. The aim is to provide a comprehensive legal assessment that addresses data governance, privacy, consumer protection, competition law, intellectual property, cybersecurity, and broader trust and safety frameworks – across both existing EU law and evolving policy landscapes.