DuckDuckGo Downgrades ‘Ranking’ Sites Spreading Russian Disinformation

Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo will rank websites “associated with Russian disinformation” lower in its results. Many large tech companies take similar measures with their products and services.

In addition to ‘downranking’ DuckDuckGo underlines that it places news stories from reputable sources at the top of search results for Ukraine to help further suppress misinformation. DuckDuckGo is holding up longer working on rankings to make results more relevant in his eyes.

In the comments below the tweet, the decision is mostly negative. Users claim that they turn to DuckDuckGo for neutral search results, accusing the company of violating one of its own core values. CEO Gabriel Weinberg responds by stating that the core value of DuckDuckGo is privacy and that it is further the task of a search engine to show relevant results. Also from the DDG’s website It turns out that the spearhead of their policy is privacy and not specifically neutrality.

Other tech companies are taking similar steps. Google bans Russian state media from Play Store and YouTube. Maps information about crowds in places in Ukraine is also shielded and Android users receive a notification in the event of an air raid siren. Payment in the Play Store has also recently been banned in Russia.