DuckDuckGo CEO and cofounder Gabriel Weinberg confessed in an interesting online exchange that his company’s web browser is forced to allow Microsoft trackers through.
Despite promising privacy precautions, DuckDuckGo’s mobile web browser accepts Microsoft data trackers.
In a lengthy Twitter thread, security researcher Jacob Edwards showed evidence of DuckDuckGo’s mobile browser transmitting data to Microsoft’s LinkedIn and Bing Ads.“You can capture data within the DuckDuckGo so-called private browser on a website like Facebook’s workplace.com and you’ll see that DDG does NOT stop data flows to Microsoft’s Linkedin domains or their Bing advertising domains,” Edwards tweeted.
I tested the DuckDuckGo so-called private browser for both iOS and Android, yet *neither version* blocked data transfers to Microsoft’s Linkedin + Bing ads while viewing Facebook’s workplace[.]com homepage.
Look at DDG bragging about stopping Facebook on Workplace, no MSFT..: pic.twitter.com/xfqhUOZMmf— ℨ𝔞𝔠𝔥 𝔈𝔡𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔡𝔰 (@thezedwards) May 23, 2022
You can capture data within the DuckDuckGo so-called private browser on a website like Facebook’s https://t.co/u8W44qvsqF and you’ll see that DDG does NOT stop data flows to Microsoft’s Linkedin domains or their Bing advertising domains.
iOS + Android proof:
👀🫥😮💨🤡⛈️⚖️💸💸💸 pic.twitter.com/u3Q30KIs7e— ℨ𝔞𝔠𝔥 𝔈𝔡𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔡𝔰 (@thezedwards) May 23, 2022
While the browser disables Facebook and Google trackers, DuckDuckGo allows some Microsoft trackers to pass through. The browsers, according to Edwards, allow data to be transferred to Microsoft’s LinkedIn and Bing domains.
The exemption, according to DuckDuckGo, is due to a search agreement with Microsoft. On Twitter, DuckDuckGo’s CEO and creator, Gabriel Weinberg, responded in length to the outcry.
When you load our search results, you are completely anonymous, including ads. For ads, we worked with Microsoft to make ad clicks protected. From our public ads page https://t.co/KHpWJ8LIV5, “Microsoft Advertising does not associate your ad-click behavior with a user profile.”— Gabriel Weinberg (@yegg) May 23, 2022
DuckDuckGo is still more private than other popular browser options .
