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Fed Up With Google, Conspiracy Theorists Turn to DuckDuckGo
NYT ^ | 02 23 2022 | Stuart A. Thompson

Posted on 02/23/2022 10:12:09 AM PST by yesthatjallen

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.

“If I wanted to find specific cases about people who died from vaccine-related injuries, I had to go to DuckDuckGo,” Mr. Rogan said, referring to the small privacy-focused search engine. “I wasn’t finding them on Google.”

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. Some have posted screenshots showing that DuckDuckGo appears to surface more links favorable to their views than Google does.

In addition to Mr. 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.

“Google is actively suppressing search results that don’t acquiesce to traditional viewpoints of the left,” Mr. Shapiro claimed last March. “I recommend you install DuckDuckGo on your computer, rather than Google, to combat all this.”

The endorsements underscore how right-wing Americans and conspiracy theorists are shifting their online activity in response to greater moderation from tech giants like Google. They have increasingly embraced fledgling and sometimes fringe platforms like the chat app Telegram, the video streamer Rumble and even search engines like DuckDuckGo, seeking conditions that seem more favorable to their conspiracy theories and falsehoods.

SNIP

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: conspiracytheories; duckduckgo; google; joerogan; mediawingofthednc; newyork; newyorkcity; newyorkslimes; newyorktimes; panicporn; paranoia; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; stuartathompson; walterdurantytimes; wdtimes
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To: yesthatjallen

Most on this site have used “Duck Duck go” for at least 2-3 years. I’m baffled that conservatives still use Google, Twitter, Facebook and other left wing platforms.


21 posted on 02/23/2022 10:25:57 AM PST by mikelets456
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To: yesthatjallen
"are shifting their online activity in response to greater moderation from tech giants like Google"

I think the author doesn't understand what the word moderation means, or, more likely, knows exactly what Alphabet Corp. is doing.

Remember the smug responses of "go build your own" when people were complaining about ideological censorship/shadow banning/de-platforming/de-monetizing? Well, guess what....

22 posted on 02/23/2022 10:26:54 AM PST by Tench_Coxe
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To: All

1. for thinking people, use of the nyt is limited to informing people what the currently prevailing liberal and DS talking points are, and what their immediate future strategy will be. for liberals and the other MSM, the nyt is their daily groupthink marching orders.

2. Google news’ coverage of current events, never great, took a nosedive in fairness and breadth of range of opinion around November 2020.


23 posted on 02/23/2022 10:27:06 AM PST by SteveH (.)
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When I want falsehoods, I will read the New York Times.


24 posted on 02/23/2022 10:27:26 AM PST by GrumpyOldGuy
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To: Poison Pill

Google Advanced Search (desktop site) allows customizable date searches. DDG is way behind, but OK for casual use.


25 posted on 02/23/2022 10:28:41 AM PST by jjotto ( Blessed are You LORD, who crushes enemies and subdues the wicked.)
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To: Poison Pill

Have you tried changing your settings?


26 posted on 02/23/2022 10:29:01 AM PST by GrumpyOldGuy
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To: yesthatjallen

We are all conspiracy theorists now.


27 posted on 02/23/2022 10:29:11 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum ("Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy." ― Mao Zedong [FJB])
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To: ptsal

Try
GIBIRU.com


Agree. I have been using it for several years now. I switched to it from DDG. There was a bad feature to DDG that I no longer recall.


28 posted on 02/23/2022 10:30:00 AM PST by beekay (Justice for Ashli Babbitt! Say her name.)
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To: yesthatjallen

How is this news?

News is apparently monitoring what their perceived enemies are talking about.


29 posted on 02/23/2022 10:30:17 AM PST by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: SaxxonWoods

Been on Duck for over 10 years. Saw a big difference compared to Google.

Startpage used to have refined searches but that ended about 3 years ago. Miss that


30 posted on 02/23/2022 10:30:45 AM PST by lizma2
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To: T.B. Yoits

Google has gotten larger than most countries, so the only applicable criteria are country criteria—they are guilty of censorship—a crime against humanity.


31 posted on 02/23/2022 10:32:10 AM PST by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
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To: Persevero

I do that on Amazon purchases. .5% their money, I think.


32 posted on 02/23/2022 10:34:06 AM PST by matthew fuller (Resist this coercion like it’s slavery. It is. Kevin Homer, MD)
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To: yesthatjallen

This from the New York Times, the most discredited, unreliable, fake news source on the planet. /spit


33 posted on 02/23/2022 10:34:26 AM PST by Flavious_Maximus (Fauci is a murderer)
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To: yesthatjallen

That Google’s algorithms are politically biased isn’t really much of a conspiracy, it’s very well-known. Disinformation is whatever they say it is. A simple search among the three I use, Google, DuckDuckGo, and Bing, shows major differences that are unmistakably politically tainted. It’s right out there and easy to see.


34 posted on 02/23/2022 10:34:45 AM PST by Billthedrill
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The headline doesn’t make sense


35 posted on 02/23/2022 10:35:27 AM PST by TakebackGOP
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To: yesthatjallen
...conspiracy theorists who question Covid-19 vaccines and push discredited coronavirus treatments.

Oh, brother...they just won't give that up.

According to Google's results, HCQ is horse paste, doctors who recommend therapeutics should have their licenses yanked, and the vaccines are 100% safe.

36 posted on 02/23/2022 10:36:32 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (If truckers quit their jobs, society would collapse. If politicians quit their jobs...HALLELUJAH!)
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To: mikelets456

I use startpage.com, have for years, as default, also use DDG.


37 posted on 02/23/2022 10:37:01 AM PST by matthew fuller (Resist this coercion like it’s slavery. It is. Kevin Homer, MD)
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To: Poison Pill

90% of the time I will use DuckDuckGo, on rare occasions I will use Google if I can’t find what I’m looking for on DDG. Non political, of course. I do use Apple’s Safari browser.
I will have to look at the others.


38 posted on 02/23/2022 10:38:47 AM PST by telescope115 (Proud member of the ANTIFAuci movement. )
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To: beekay

Does anyone use Startpage.com?


39 posted on 02/23/2022 10:41:05 AM PST by stars & stripes forever (Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. (Psalm 33:12))
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To: yesthatjallen

NYTimes - if you don’t use Google, ur a nazi.


40 posted on 02/23/2022 10:45:44 AM PST by Skywise
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