Privacy researcher Zach Edwards has discovered that DuckDuckGo uses a list of domain names that allow Microsoft scripts to pass through. The founder of DuckDuckGo admits this and states that this is part of an agreement with the American company.
Zach Edwards researched the Internet traffic of DuckDuckGo’s iOS and Android apps. He established that Microsoft scripts were allowed on third-party websites, such as Facebook’s workplace.com, although DuckDuckGo on his website writes that it has reached an arrangement with Microsoft whereby data is only shared with the American company when you click on Microsoft advertisements. That data includes the full IP address and user agent string of the user. “DuckDuckGo does not write anything on its website about why they do not block data flows to Microsoft on third-party websites,” Edwards said, who also refers to the general anti-tracking measures from DuckDuckGo.
DuckDuckGo CEO and founder Gabriel Weinberg commented on the discovery, stating that most third-party trackers in the DuckDuckGo apps are indeed blocked. The man refers to a deal with Microsoft that forces the company to allow some of their trackers. Weinberg is said to be working behind the scenes on a solution, but can’t say much about the content of the agreement for the time being due to contractual obligations.