If you’ve updated Chrome 73, you’ll likely find a new default search engine to pick. As well as Google (obviously), Yahoo and Bing (less obviously), users will not be able to pick privacy-focused DuckDuckGo.
DuckDuckGo will be selectable in over 60 markets, including the United States and the UK, although it’s not a feature that Google is making a big deal about, as it did with the introduction of media keys.
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You can see the change is there though, visible on GitHub. And the reason for inclusion seems to be a fairly straightforward one: it’s reached a sufficient critical mass of users to justify being part of the Chrome party. “The default search engine (DSE) list is being refreshed from recently collected data,” the explainer reads. “Existing engine registrations will be kept intact, and only new engines are being added. The list of engine references for each country is being completely replaced based on new usage statistics, and unreferenced engine registrations are removed.”
DuckDuckGo’s own usage stats seem to bear this out. The search engine, which offers no personalisation and doesn’t track its users for privacy reasons, hit 30 million searches a day last October. “it took us seven years to reach 10 million private searches in one day, then another two years to hit 20 million, and now less than a year later we’re at 30 million,” the company said in a tweet at the time. “Thank you all.”
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In another tweet acknowledging its inclusion in Chrome 73, the site wrote: “We’re glad that Google has finally recognised the importance of offering consumers a private search option in Chrome.”
Will you be switching your default search engine to DuckDuckGo in Chrome? Let us know your plans on Twitter: @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.