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The far right complains after the search engine DuckDuckGo vows to limit Russian propaganda.

The backlash underscored the difficulties some technology companies face in limiting the spread of Russian propaganda.

“Like so many others I am sickened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” Gabriel Weinberg, chief executive of DuckDuckGo, tweeted on Thursday.Credit...Michelle Gustafson for The New York Times

Far-right influencers have often encouraged people to use the small privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo instead of Google, saying that the giant search engine censored conservative ideas.

The praise for DuckDuckGo turned to outrage this week, though, after the company said Russian disinformation would be minimized on its site.

DuckDuckGo’s chief executive, Gabriel Weinberg, tweeted on Thursday that the search engine would rank websites “associated with disinformation” lower in its search results.

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Stuart A. Thompson is a reporter in the technology department covering misinformation and disinformation.

  More about Stuart A. Thompson

A version of this article appears in print on March 12, 2022, Section B, Page 3 of the New York edition with the headline: DuckDuckGo Draws Anger From Far Right. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
See more on: Russia-Ukraine War

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