As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues unabated, digital media is fighting a difficult war on disinformation. Now, after the social platforms, also the search engine DuckDuckGo has decided to limit the circulation of fake news. According to reports from the CEO Gabriel Weinbergin fact, the platform has “downgraded” in the search results all the sites “associated with Russian disinformation”. This will make it more difficult for users to access false and biased news about the ongoing conflict. But let’s find out more.
DuckDuckGo against Russian media fake news
“Like so many others, I am disgusted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the gigantic humanitarian crisis it continues to trigger. In DuckDuckGo, we have implemented search updates that downgrade sites associated with Russian misinformation ”. Thus Weinberg announces on Twitter the actions of the search engine aimed at limiting the circulation of fake news on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. A move that is far from unexpected, given that Google e Bing they have already put in place a series of measures to limit disinformation. Still, many users seem to have disliked the platform’s decision. And indeed, some have even claimed they already have changed search engine preference default due to this decision.
“Can you see how quickly most of your user base has been discouraged by this announcement? Longtime loyal supporters are talking about leaving the service. Please reconsider your position on this “. This is how a user responds to Gabriel Weinberg’s tweet announcing new measures against fake news. And this is just one of the many comments that have populated Twitter in the last few hours. The faithful of DuckDuckGo, in fact, seem quite certain that they can distinguish for themselves what is true and what is not. On the other hand, the success of the search engine was given precisely by being one valid alternative to the Big Tech proposals. Therefore, the fact that it limits the circulation of news in some way may have bothered users.
“The whole point of DuckDuckGo is privacy. The main purpose of the search engine is to show more relevant content than less relevant content, and that’s what we continue to do, ”Weinberg replied publicly on Twitter. On the other hand, it must be considered that the platform is thick bound by search engine content policies of Big Tech, because that’s where it actually gets the results. And this may not convince the most loyal users. In any case, what matters is that the search engine is trying to deliver valid news to its audience. Apparently, it will also add “news modules and information boxes”. In short, clear information in all respects.