DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo
Basic Information
Release Year	2008-09-25
Product Type	Search Engine
In Production	Yes
Official Website	https://duckduckgo.com/

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DuckDuckGo is an American software company focused on online privacy, and was founded in 2008 by Gabriel Weinberg.^[1]

Consumer impact summary

Freedom

DuckDuckGo had removed/de-ranked certain content, raising concerns about the extent of its unrestricted search results.^[2]^[3]

Privacy

DuckDuckGo browser had specifically allowed Microsoft trackers to continue running, at the expense of user privacy.^[4]

Business model

DuckDuckGo primarily generates revenue through showing ads in the search results. The advertisements are only indicative of the keywords used in the search.^[5] In addition to this, DuckDuckGo also earns income from subscription fees paid to access its Privacy Pro feature.^[6] This subscription sells DuckDuckGo VPN, Personal Information Removal, Identity Theft Restoration, and Advanced AI models.^[7]

Market control

According to Statista, DuckDuckGo takes up around 2% of the U.S. search engine market. More prevalent search engines such as Google, and to a lesser degree, Bing, take up most of the search engine market.^[8] However, when compared to other privacy-focused search engines DuckDuckGo is one of the most prevalent^{[citation needed (November 2025)]}.

Incidents

This is a list of all consumer protection incidents related to this product. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the DuckDuckGo category.

Piracy censorship (2022)

DuckDuckGo had removed the search results for numerous popular pirate websites, including The Pirate Bay, 1337x, and Fmovies^[9]^{[update needed]}.

Tracking block bias (2022)

DuckDuckGo's privacy browser allows Microsoft trackers on third-party websites due to a search syndication agreement with Microsoft. However, this changed in August when DuckDuckGo’s contract with Microsoft expired, and Microsoft’s tracking was also blocked^[10].

Political censorship (2025)

DuckDuckGo’s owner announced that the search engine would be de-ranking websites deemed to spread Russian misinformation^[11].

References

[1] ttps://duckduckgo.com/about

[2] ttps://www.pcmag.com/news/duckduckgo-to-down-rank-sites-associated-with-russian-disinformation

[3] ttps://torrentfreak.com/duckduckgo-removes-pirate-sites-and-youtube-dl-from-its-search-results-220415/

[4] ttps://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/duckduckgo-browser-allows-microsoft-trackers-due-to-search-agreement/

[5] ttps://umatechnology.org/the-truth-about-duckduckgo-monetization/

[6] ttps://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/privacy-pro

[7] Weinberg, Gabriel (4 Sep 2025). "The DuckDuckGo subscription now includes more advanced AI chat models, along with VPN & more". spreadprivacy.com. Retrieved 21 Nov 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[8] ttps://www.statista.com/statistics/1220046/duckduckgo-search-engine-market-share-by-region/

[9] ttps://torrentfreak.com/duckduckgo-removes-pirate-sites-and-youtube-dl-from-its-search-results-220415/

[10] ttps://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/duckduckgo-browser-allows-microsoft-trackers-due-to-search-agreement/

[11] ttps://www.pcmag.com/news/duckduckgo-to-down-rank-sites-associated-with-russian-disinformation

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