The pledge not to track user search activity and online behavior has been a cornerstone of the DuckDuckGo ethos, as tracking data can be employed to create invasive user-profiles and unsettling advertisements. “People don’t like ads that follow them around,” Weinberg emphasized, asserting that privacy is a paramount concern for users, often outweighing their pursuit of the best search results.
While DuckDuckGo still generates revenue from advertising, it utilizes a contextual advertising model, tailoring ads to users’ real-time search queries rather than building comprehensive user profiles for targeted marketing.
This unique focus on privacy helped the company attract a broader user base, especially in the wake of revelations like the Edward Snowden saga and the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which unveiled how personal data could be exploited by digital service providers and data brokers.
DuckDuckGo, a privately held company, has not disclosed its financials but claims profitability and annual revenues exceeding $100 million. In contrast, these figures pale in comparison to Google’s parent company, Alphabet, which raked in an astonishing $283 billion in revenue last year.
