this post was submitted on 02 Jun 2026
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without stupid adblockblock https://archive.is/whZuI

also i wouldn't install their extension just for that, you can edit your default search engine to anu address you want in the settings

browser extensions are a huge privacy risk and i wouldn't trust ddg with my data because of their Microsoft deal, not to block their trackers (they reverted that part after the backlash) in the ddg browser and to only show msn under their news tab in regular ddg

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[–] kurikai@lemmy.world 76 points 1 week ago (2 children)

would be great if it could also not show links to ai generated content websites

[–] Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone 41 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Combo it with Ublock Origin and use their AI site blocklist.

[–] CovertOperative@piefed.zip 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I didn't see a list like that in the Ublock Origin settings. Is it an importable list and do you have a link?

[–] Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

It's built in the filters list, under Annoyances>Huge AI Blocklist. There's two different ones (the larger "nuclear variant" might slow down search a bit).

[–] JayGray91@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Sorry, I'm still not seeing it. Firefox says uBO is already updated. image

[–] Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Here's the direct home link, although it's built into the list on my Waterfox and IronWolf installs.

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[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

The fact that this is even necessary just makes me sad.

[–] Mensh123@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

DuckDuckGo actually tries to downrank them. It's just that there's no way ts tell for sure, especially for computers.

[–] Tetsuo@jlai.lu 43 points 1 week ago (3 children)

It really sucks that to escape Google, the second in line that is "more private" is DDG and based in the US. So that means they have to abide to the american privacy invading "patriot" laws etc.

I wish we had a good European alternative that doesn't have to comply to the NSA when they want direct access to logs while giving you a gag order...

And I know searx-ng but last time I tried it wasn't good enough imo.

[–] sobchak@programming.dev 18 points 1 week ago (8 children)

Qwant is French. Not a privacy search engine and looks like it features AI now. Kagi is really good, but US based and expensive. I think most of Europe does intelligence sharing with the US ("14 eyes" or something like that)?

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[–] BentiGorlich@gehirneimer.de 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

There is ecosia, although they also use the US indexes

[–] oce@jlai.lu 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

French Qwant and German Ecosia are building a EU based index together, but it will probably take time to be competitive compared to Google. https://www.eu-searchperspective.com/

[–] Telodzrum@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

I wish we had a good European alternative that doesn’t have to comply to the NSA when they want direct access to logs while giving you a gag order…

Most of the European continent doesn't even require a judicial finding to turn over information to a Five Eyes agency.

[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 42 points 1 week ago (1 children)

My only gripe is its not default. I use many different devices and to set it on each one is annoying.

[–] badgermurphy@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Agreed, let me opt in, dont force me to opt out, especially on something that costs them money. Like what?

[–] tty84@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] Flagstaff@programming.dev 12 points 1 week ago (2 children)

What makes me suspect them having an agenda behind all their self-marketing is the fact that this isn't already the default page...

[–] badgermurphy@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah, what's with the auto-opt-in for features that cost them money? I'd think they'd prefer if nobody used the AI search, because they'd get their ad impressions with only server overhead, rather than that plus AI overhead. Clearly I'm wrong, but I can't figure out why.

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[–] AverageEarthling@feddit.online 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] group_hug@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Having trouble adding this as the default search in Firefox.

Anybody know the search query needed to use this from the address bar?

https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite/q=%s

Does not seem to work.

[–] Wildmimic@anarchist.nexus 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

It uses a Form Post - I recommend navigating to the DDG Lite site, right click on your search bar (you might have to add it if you removed it by using "Costumize Toolbar"), and select to add it. Edit: just realized ithis also works in the address bar, no fiddling around needed. Edit2: But it does not work consistently - the search bar variant always works.

kCrIF7n3sMJTdDG.png

[–] Wildmimic@anarchist.nexus 17 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I switched to MetaGer long ago. No AI bullshit, no trackers, no ads, you pay a pittance per search to cover the costs of your search. I started using it 8 months ago and i still haven't used up the 10€ i charged my account with. They are run by a non-profit, and it's FOSS under AGPL3.

[–] Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Does it work as well as Google before it became absolute shit?

[–] Wildmimic@anarchist.nexus 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Per default it uses Brave's index, Mojeek's index and Google's Index via Serper. You can switch off whatever index you do not want. It also respects quotes and +/- in searches. There are no sponsored search results. You can open pages using their anonymous proxy when clicking "Open Anonymously". This is a Screenshot of a search using Brave and Google's Index.

36JfFFsNMQvBMoy.png

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[–] HrabiaVulpes@europe.pub 17 points 1 week ago (3 children)

DuckDuckGo gains traffic not because it somehow gotten better recently.

Google entered heavy enshittification stage and honestly... it's sad to watch.

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Google entered heavy enshittification stage and honestly… it’s sad to watch.

google has been in heavy enshittification for going on a decade now.

Honestly you could make the argument that its been on the enshittification slide since they tried to expand out from just being a search engine company.

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[–] Rekorse@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago

I honestly can't find anything on google anymore. I barely use it at all, but sometimes someone will hand me their phone, so I'll give it a shot. I always end up switching to ddg before I find what I'm looking for.

There might be a way to use google search these days but its apparently beyond my desire/skills to learn it.

[–] AlteredEgo@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

There is a good article about how it happened: The Man Who Killed Google Search by Ed Zitron

[–] crestwave@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I find that "no AI" DDG still has way more AI-generated images than default Google, sadly. And there's no before: operator as an alternative to filter them out, either.

[–] can@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

I still go to Google for image search unfortunately.

[–] nsh@lemmy.nz 15 points 1 week ago

There are also lite and html versions:

Neither has AI enabled.

[–] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 week ago

Qwant and Kagi are also pretty solid search engines if people are looking for more alternatives.

[–] helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Why have an extension for this?

On Firefox (desktop and mobile) you can easily add it as your default search engine. It can be done in Vivaldi too (not sure if its a chrome default or Vivaldi addition).

They could just have a 1 paragraph guide telling you how to do it.

[–] not_IO@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

yeah that's what I'm saying

...yes, I definitely read your entire post and repeated exactly what you said for fun.

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 4 points 1 week ago (4 children)
[–] echodot@feddit.uk 7 points 1 week ago (4 children)
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[–] Mensh123@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

https://duckduckgo.com/settings#aifeatures

Have fun!

Note: These settings are stored in your cookies and if you clear those, the settings will reset. That's why we have https://noai.duckduckgo.com/.

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[–] elucubra@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Searxng, a metasearch engine, and better, self hosted in a container. Easy, searches a stupid amount of engines, 100% private.

[–] sobchak@programming.dev 3 points 1 week ago

I'm sure the search engines log the IP, and with enough searches could be correlated back to you fairly easily even if you host it on a VPS? Unless it does some kind of mitigation I'm unaware of.

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[–] Ludicrous0251@piefed.zip 3 points 1 week ago

Not seeing any adblockblock, do you have all of the annoyances filters enabled in uBO?

[–] the__joosh@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I have found duck to be slow in general lately for some reason, has anyone tried waterfox search for private serach?

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