Data Report Card · DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo Data Report Card
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11/12 Policy grade · Search + browser · Duck Duck Go, Inc. (Paoli, PA)
Reviewed Jun 2026 · some cells re-verified Aug 2026 · policies are checked weekly for changes · stated — every cell is read from DuckDuckGo's published policy; none has been tested (run by us) yet.
2Accessstated
Nothing to see is the stated design — “We don’t save or share your search, chat, or browsing history” and “we don’t save your IP address” — and for what little exists, access, correction and objection rights are honored by email “regardless of where you live”.
DuckDuckGo — Privacy Policy / Privacy Rights page · accessed Aug 2026 ↗1Portabilitystated
A copy-of-your-data right exists by request, but there is nothing held to export by design and no export tooling for Email Protection or the subscription — the nothing-held, request-path shape.
DuckDuckGo — Privacy Rights page · accessed Aug 2026 ↗Connects to apps: No. No consumer data API exists — by design there is almost no server-side user data to fetch (anonymous search, local Duck.ai chats, no account); the legacy Instant Answer API serves search content, not user data. DuckDuckGo Privacy Policy (nothing held by design) · accessed Aug 2026 ↗
2Frictionstated
Most rights are moot by design; the paths that exist are self-serve (Email Protection account deletion, per-address deactivation) or a short email to privacy@duckduckgo.com. “We helped pioneer the Global Privacy Control (GPC) standard” and “The GPC setting is enabled by default”.
DuckDuckGo — GPC help page / Privacy Rights · accessed Aug 2026 ↗2Deletionstated
Stated purge windows where data exists: cancelling the subscription deletes personal information with “30 days” of backups as the outer bound; Email Protection deletion is self-serve and permanent; Duck.ai sync chats auto-delete after 18 months, shared-chat links expire after 48 hours by default (or 1, 7 or 30 days, as you set).
DuckDuckGo — Subscription privacy terms / Duck.ai terms · accessed Aug 2026 ↗2Sells / sharesstated
“We do not sell your personal information. We have never sold any personal information. Period.” Search ads are contextual — “based on the search results page you’re viewing, and not based on you” — and Microsoft “has committed to not associate your ad-click behavior with a user profile”.
DuckDuckGo Privacy Policy — ads and selling · accessed Aug 2026 ↗2Trains AIstated
Duck.ai strips identifying metadata before prompts reach model providers, and “we have agreements in place with all model providers … including not using Prompts and Outputs to develop or improve their models”, with provider retention capped at 30 days.
Duck.ai Privacy Terms · accessed Aug 2026 ↗Graded 2026-08-31 against the DuckDuckGo Privacy Policy (last updated Jun 3, 2026), the Privacy Rights page, the Subscription and Duck.ai privacy terms, and DuckDuckGo's help pages. Consumer surface = DuckDuckGo search, browsers, Duck.ai, Email Protection and the Privacy Pro subscription, operated by Duck Duck Go, Inc. (Paoli, PA). The design holds almost nothing: searches are anonymous, no account exists for search, the subscription runs on “a random ID”, and Email Protection forwards mail “never saving it on our systems”. Rights are honored “regardless of where you live”. Search ads are contextual (“based on the search results page you’re viewing, and not based on you”), and “Microsoft has committed to not associate your ad-click behavior with a user profile”. DuckDuckGo helped pioneer GPC and ships it on by default. No enforcement history. All cells stated, not tested.
Events
Breaches, policy changes, and export-format changes we’ve recorded at DuckDuckGo — other parties’ actions, alongside the enforcement record above. An event never changes a grade by itself. All events →
2 Oct 2026DuckDuckGo changed two Duck.ai terms. Shared-chat links now expire after 48 hours by default, and you can set 1, 7 or 30 days; before, shared chats were deleted after 30 days. Duck.ai is now for people aged 18 or older, or younger with a parent's supervision; before, the minimum age was 13.policy change
On the events page →
Grade history
Every change to this company’s grade since it was first published, and why. All grade changes →
5 Oct 2026Deletionnote
Score unchanged (2). Duck.ai shared-chat links now expire after 48 hours by default (1, 7 or 30 days if you choose), replacing the flat 30-day deletion the rationale cited.
Followed a published event →How to request your data from DuckDuckGo
- Go to https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/r-legal/privacy-rights — DuckDuckGo's data-request entry point.
- Almost nothing held by design; rights honored worldwide via privacy@duckduckgo.com; Email Protection deletion self-serve in settings.
- Expected wait: email requests, no stated window; subscription data purged within 30 days of cancellation — DuckDuckGo's stated turnaround (we haven't independently timed a request yet).
- No self-serve option, or want a formal request? Contact DuckDuckGo — Privacy: mailto:privacy@duckduckgo.com.
These steps reflect DuckDuckGo's documented process as of Jun 2026. The wait time is the company's stated figure, not yet independently measured by us.