Keep Factually independent
Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.
Is duckduckgo part of Microsoft
Executive summary
DuckDuckGo is an independent, privately owned company and is not owned by Microsoft — DuckDuckGo itself states it has been independent since 2008 [1] and summaries of its company history repeat that fact [2]. However, DuckDuckGo has a commercial search syndication and advertising partnership with Microsoft that in 2022 created a contractual exception preventing DuckDuckGo’s browser from blocking some Microsoft-owned tracking scripts until that restriction was lifted [3] [4] [2].
1. Who owns DuckDuckGo — the straightforward corporate fact
DuckDuckGo describes itself as an independent, privately‑owned company since its 2008 founding [1]. Wikipedia’s corporate profile likewise characterizes DuckDuckGo as a privately held U.S. software company headquartered in Pennsylvania [2]. Multiple fact‑checks and company statements cited in reporting confirm there is no public record that Microsoft owns DuckDuckGo [4] [2].
2. What Microsoft’s role actually is — a business partnership, not acquisition
The relationship most often discussed in reporting is a commercial search syndication and advertising arrangement: DuckDuckGo’s search results and some ad placements are powered or supplemented by Microsoft’s Bing, and Microsoft supplies ads served alongside DuckDuckGo results under that partnership [4] [5]. Reuters notes the partnership serves ads alongside search results and that DuckDuckGo said Microsoft cannot use that partnership to build ad profiles from clicks [4].
3. Why people confuse partnership with ownership — the 2022 tracker controversy
In May 2022 researchers found DuckDuckGo’s mobile browser did not block some Microsoft tracking scripts on non‑DuckDuckGo websites while it blocked Google and Facebook trackers; DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg confirmed the behavior was tied to a Microsoft search syndication agreement that prevented them from blocking certain Microsoft‑owned scripts [6] [7] [3]. Coverage framed that contractual carve‑out as a privacy compromise, which prompted readers to question whether Microsoft owned or controlled DuckDuckGo [8] [9].
4. How DuckDuckGo and independent reporting characterized the restriction
DuckDuckGo’s CEO publicly said the syndication agreement “prevents us from doing more to Microsoft‑owned properties,” and that the restriction applied to the browser’s non‑search tracker blocking prior to a policy change [7] [2]. Outlets such as Search Engine Journal, Bleeping Computer and Wired reported the same contractual limitation and the ensuing backlash, while noting the limitation concerned browser tracker blocking rather than DuckDuckGo’s ownership or search‑engine indexing [5] [6] [8].
5. Subsequent developments and clarifications reported
Wikipedia’s summary and Reuters’ fact check note that by August 2022 DuckDuckGo began blocking Microsoft trackers, saying the policy preventing them from doing so “no longer applied,” and Reuters relayed DuckDuckGo communications that the advertising partnership does not permit Microsoft to build user profiles from ad clicks [2] [4]. Reporting emphasizes that the earlier restriction was contractual and limited in scope, not evidence of Microsoft ownership [4] [2].
6. Conflicting or unreliable claims in other sources
Some third‑party pages and later summaries repeat incorrect claims that Microsoft acquired DuckDuckGo (examples in the search list include a 2024/2025 page asserting acquisition), but these are contradicted by DuckDuckGo’s own help pages and major fact‑checks which call DuckDuckGo independent [1] [4]. The authoritative sources in this set — DuckDuckGo’s company help page, Reuters fact check, and the encyclopedic profile — consistently state independence [1] [4] [2]. Other outlets focused on the tracker issue, which caused confusion between partnership restrictions and ownership [8] [9].
7. What this means for users — privacy vs. commercial realism
The core lesson in reporting is procedural: DuckDuckGo is independent, but like many search engines it relies on commercial deals (here, with Microsoft) that had operational effects on its browser’s tracker blocking until policy changes were made [4] [3]. Users seeking purely technical guarantees will find explanations of what the partnership did and did not allow in the cited reporting; the controversy was about contractual constraints on blocking Microsoft tracking scripts in the browser, not about corporate ownership [6] [7].
8. Bottom line and recommended reading
Bottom line: Microsoft does not own DuckDuckGo; DuckDuckGo remains privately owned [1] [2]. But DuckDuckGo has a commercial search/ads relationship with Microsoft that in 2022 included contractual limits on blocking some Microsoft trackers in its browser — a distinction that explains why ownership confusion spread after the tracker reports [3] [4] [6]. For primary confirmation, read DuckDuckGo’s “Who owns DuckDuckGo?” help page and Reuters’ fact check, and consult the contemporaneous reporting on the 2022 tracker issue for details [1] [4] [6].