DuckDuckGo the search engine may not be as large as Google, but it has shown an increasing number of loyal followers from privacy-concerned communities.
Due to its increasing influence, DuckDuckGo is making one big change: down-ranking websites that spread disinformation. To be exact, the search engine is down-ranking whatever websites it found associated with Russian disinformation. This is its response to Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The decision was announced by DuckDuckGo's founder and CEO Gabriel Weinberg on Twitter.
"Like so many others I am sickened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the gigantic humanitarian crisis it continues to create," he wrote in the tweet, which included the hashtag #StandWithUkraine.
"At DuckDuckGo, we've been rolling out search updates that down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation," he added.
Like so many others I am sickened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the gigantic humanitarian crisis it continues to create. #StandWithUkraine️
At DuckDuckGo, we've been rolling out search updates that down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation.— Gabriel Weinberg (@yegg) March 10, 2022
While the change is meant to end disinformation spreading on its search engine results pages, some critics said that the change is because DuckDuckGo wants to start censoring things.
Others referenced DuckDuckGo’s original commitment, which is "unbiased search."
Criticisms came because Weinberg didn't detail nor elaborate on the decision.
He didn't explain the method DuckDuckGo would use to decide what's real and what's fake.
He also didn't explain anything about which Russian propaganda sites DuckDuckGo is targeting, or whether the search engine would target other types of disinformation, such as climate change or COVID-19.
DuckDuckGo didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But on Twitter, Weinberg said that the decision was made to provide relevant search results over disinformation.
"Search engines by definition try to put more relevant content higher and less relevant content lower—that's not censorship, it's search ranking relevancy," Weinberg tweeted to one user.
DuckDuckGo's mission is to make simple privacy protection accessible to all. Privacy is a human right and transcends politics, which is why about 100 million people around the world use DuckDuckGo. (We don't have an exact count since we don't track people.)
— Gabriel Weinberg (@yegg) March 10, 2022
Right before this attempt to fight "Russian disinformation," DuckDuckGo has also "paused" its partnership with Russian search engine Yandex over the war in Ukraine
"The index was used to provide traditional links — meaning, non-news links — on the search engine results page in Russia and Turkey," said Katie McInnis, DuckDuckGo's senior public policy manager for the U.S, , at a House hearing on technology..
Before DuckDuckGo, Google has started de-ranking Russian state-sponsored media publications.
Others include Facebook parent Meta, Twitter, Apple, Nintendo and Netflix among many others.
The many tech companies have suspended their operations in Russia Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine.
Further reading: Ukraine Minister Asks U.S. Tech Companies For Help, And Ask Them To Also Pressure Russia