Despite claims over taking back control, UK is forced to comply with rules on which it has no say
This is an old link, but contains all the information needed. They’ve watered it down a bit since, but you still see it pop up from time to time: https://www.theregister.com/2017/05/19/open_source_insider_google_amp_bad_bad_bad/
edit: oh, someone else posted the exact same article, haha. I didn’t look at the context, just replied directly from my inbox. Well, I’m leaving it here, so everyone can see me embarrassing myself :)
Google invented AMP.
It had specifications for a webpage to conform to.
In return, Google would serve a cached copy and rank your page higher - ie a bigger audience. So publishers had to play along.
This article has some overviews on it.
https://www.theregister.com/2017/05/19/open_source_insider_google_amp_bad_bad_bad/
AMP developers produced something that is bad for the open web ecosystem because it destroys three sacrosanct elements of the web: the URL, the open web standard of HTML, and the decentralisation of the web.
Whilst AMP is now open source, it’s still Google.
I don’t know that any other search engines recognise AMP.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen an “Always AMP” browser extension (tho I have seen many “de-amp” extensions).
Personally , I will support the publishers by linking/sharing/viewing the actual article link instead of the AMP link.