Search results can change over time and vary among users, but the comparisons provide a snapshot of what a single user might have seen on a typical day in mid-February. The company said it was also studying ways to limit the spread of false and misleading information.įor a glimpse at what conspiracy theorists encounter when they search online, The New York Times reviewed the top 20 search results on Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo for more than 30 conspiracy theories and right-wing topics. In a statement, DuckDuckGo said it condemned “acts of disinformation” and said the company’s internal surveys showed that its users had a wide mix of political orientations. And all search engine algorithms are considered black boxes because the companies that create them do not completely disclose what informs their decisions. “I recommend you install DuckDuckGo on your computer, rather than Google, to combat all this.”ĭuckDuckGo, which has about 3% of the United States search market, holds little direct control over the links in its search results because they are generated by the search engine algorithm provided by Bing, which Microsoft owns. “Google is actively suppressing search results that don’t acquiesce to traditional viewpoints of the left,” Shapiro claimed in March 2021. In addition to Rogan, who has recently been at the center of an outcry about misinformation on his podcast, the search engine has received ringing endorsements from some of the world’s most-downloaded conservative podcasters, including Ben Shapiro and Dan Bongino. Some have posted screenshots showing that DuckDuckGo appears to surface more links favorable to their views than Google does. Praise for DuckDuckGo has become a popular refrain during the pandemic among right-wing social media influencers and conspiracy theorists who question COVID-19 vaccines and push discredited coronavirus treatments. “If I wanted to find specific cases about people who died from vaccine-related injuries, I had to go to DuckDuckGo,” Rogan said, referring to the small, privacy-focused search engine. On an episode of Joe Rogan’s popular podcast last year, he turned to a topic that has gripped right-wing communities and other Americans who feel skeptical about the pandemic: search engines. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menuīy Stuart A.
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