Tuta Mail – which says it has more than ten million users worldwide – alleges that, since March, it hasn’t appeared prominently in Google searches for “encrypted email.”

The company has made a complaint to the EU claiming that Google – which has its own hugely popular Gmail service – has damaged a rival business.

Google has denied the accusation, insisting Tuta remains “easily accessible” via its search engine.

In its complaint, Tuta notes that its “ranking” – how high up Google’s search results it appears – fell dramatically in March 2024 for searches such as “secure email.”

As a result, monthly visits to pages on its website have dropped by almost 90%, Tuta’s formal complaint to the EU alleges.

“At the beginning of March 2024 Google suddenly stopped displaying our website for thousands of keywords,” it wrote in the complaint.

Following the change, traffic to its website only came from searches mentioning the name of its products.

“Google must stop this unfair limitation of showing our website in search results immediately,” Matthias Pfau, co-founder of Tuta Mail said.

‘Complex update’

Google’s algorithm uses a number of factors to determine the ranking of search results. When the algorithm is updated, it can have a big impact on businesses that rely on the visits search sends to their websites.

There was an update in early March, as a result of which Google warned there would be more fluctuations in rankings than usual.

But it denies its updates are intended to favour any particular website, including its own.

“Search ranking updates absolutely do not aim to preference Google products, or any other particular website. The email provider in question is easily accessible globally on Search,” Google wrote.

Gmail has more than a billion users worldwide. Tuta argues that “niche” email services such as its own will not be able to grow into serious competitors if they don’t appear for common search terms.

In a blog post the firm accused the company of breaching a new EU law that came into force in March, which designated some large firms, including Google, as “gatekeepers” subject to additional legal restrictions.

This includes not treating their own services more favourably than rivals.

“Google in its role as a gatekeeper is impacting the profits and marketability of our private email service Tuta Mail – a direct competitor to Google’s Gmail, which goes against the Digital Markets Act”, the company wrote.

But, according to a Google spokesperson, Tuta ranks above Gmail for a range of email-related searches, including ones that don’t mention it as a brand and those it referred to in its blog.

The victim, Walkia Sulemana, 22 said she was sent on an errand when the duo accosted and beat her to pulp.

“I was sent to buy a soft drink from a store behind the suspects’ house for my grandmother when they attacked me” the victim told Adom News‘ Rebecca Nantomah.

The victim reported the case to police leading to the arrest of the suspects.

The Bole District Crime Officer, ASP Wisdom Pavis Agbaklah, who confirmed the incident said Walkia has been issued a police medical form for treatment.

The suspects he noted will be arraigned in Friday on May 13, 2022.

Aliya, who is a second wife, was attacked with palm oil by her senior wife, Aisha Abdulrama in Edo State, Nigeria.

It was gathered that the two wives, who are both living with their husband, a customs officer, had been on each other’s neck since they became rivals.

It was during one of these fights that the first wife is said to have heated palm oil and doused Aliya’s skin with it.

Severe damage was caused to her face, hands and chest as well as other parts of her body.

After committing the act, she is said to have wielded a cutlass, threatening to slash anybody who comes to Aliya’s rescue.

The matter was subsequently reported to the police, but the suspect is currently at large.

The trader, who was in the company of her friends, perpetrated the act at a lorry station when she came face-to-face with the victim after an online banter.

Speaking to Adom News’ Rebecca Natomah on what transpired the fateful day, the victim stated that the trader attacked her with the substance she kept in a sanitiser bottle, while she [Rashida] was on her motorbike.

After raining insults on her for having the audacity to befriend someone she claims she is no longer dating, she proceeded to pour the substance bit by bit as her friends look on.

Not aware of the damages to her skin, she responded to the verbal assaults she received, a move that made the trader empty the entire content of the bottle on her body.

“I did not know what was happening, but I felt my skin burning so I attempted to ride away, but she kept coming for me,” she narrated.

The attack, which started on her back, proceeded to other parts of her body including her shoulders and chest.

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“At a point, my dress melted to the ground, which alarmed a by-passer. She was the one who told me I had just been bathed with acid so I rushed to look for water and poured it on my skin,” she said.

The victim was rushed to the Bole District Government Hospital for treatment.

Prior to the attack, she had verbally assaulted the victim on social media, amid threats that she had just 30 days to live.

At that time, she called the threat a bluff.

The matter was reported to the Tinga Police and the trader was subsequently arrested and detained for further investigations.

According to a witness, Michael Larbi, the suspect allegedly carried out the act after his fiancee, Akos with whom he has a child, broke up with him to date the deceased.

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Narrating the incident on Accra-based Rainbow FM, Mr Larbi alleged that Manso allegedly trailed the victim to Akos’ house where he allegedly stabbed him multiple times from the back until he fell unconscious.

Father of the deceased, Nana Boadu Atta, reacting to the incident, said Akos informed him of the heinous crime her former fiancee had allegedly committed but did not confirm his death.

However, he indicated his son’s body was found at a cemetery, adding the suspect before his arrest wielded offensive weapons and attempted to attack other people.

The suspect and Akos have since been arrested.

According to Adwoa Darko, as she is popularly known, the family is yet to know the whereabouts of the woman, Esther Tawiah, who is at the centre of the controversy.

Speaking in an interview on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem Monday, Adwoa Darko, expressed hope that her son, William Appiah, would get well soon to resume work and cater for the family.

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“I have five children but he is the bread winner of the family and looking at what has happened, I don’t know what I am going to live on,” she lamented. 

Mr Appiah reportedly engaged the suspect who is now in police custody in a fight for sleeping with his wife on their matrimonial bed at Gomoa Nkwantanan in the Central region.

 The suspect, however, reached out for a cutlass and inflicted wounds on his head, arms causing the victim to nearly lose his fingers.

The victim who bolted the scene after the incidence, was however arrested at Buduburam Refugee Camp upon a tip-off.