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No confirmed purge took place. On April 15, 2022, TorrentFreak reported that searches for several piracy-related domains—and the official youtube-dl site—returned no results or far fewer results on DuckDuckGo. Follow-up checks and DuckDuckGo’s explanations pointed instead to a faulty site: operator and anomalies in Bing-supplied data. TorrentFreak later reported that the additionally flagged domains had returned by April 18.
What DuckDuckGo users saw on April 15, 2022
TorrentFreak tested searches involving The Pirate Bay, 1337x, FMovies, Lookmovie, 123moviesfree and other domains. Some queries produced no result, while others showed sharply fewer results. The behavior varied by query: some domains were still discoverable.
Those checks established an observation about particular search results, not that DuckDuckGo had deliberately removed the domains. The initial report did not identify a cause and did not establish a copyright-related policy.
Read TorrentFreak’s report and updates.
DuckDuckGo denied removing the domains
April 17: the site: operator explanation
DuckDuckGo told TorrentFreak that its records showed YouTube-dl and The Pirate Bay had not been removed when searched directly by name or URL. It said the site: operator was experiencing problems. TorrentFreak also noted that those two domains were still absent from Bing at that point.
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April 18: more results returned
A later DuckDuckGo update attributed the other reported anomalies to Bing data. After TorrentFreak alerted the company, the publication reported that the additional domains it had highlighted were appearing again on April 18.
April 19: the founder rejected a “purge” claim
In The Independent’s contemporaneous account, CEO and founder Gabriel Weinberg denied that DuckDuckGo was “purging” piracy sites. He said the sites remained available when searched by name and described the site: operator as the problem. The publication said its own checks found the sites.
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Was The Pirate Bay removed from DuckDuckGo?
The available evidence does not support a confirmed removal. A site:thepiratebay.org query failing, or returning fewer pages, is not equivalent to DuckDuckGo deleting the domain from its index. Direct name and URL searches were treated differently in DuckDuckGo’s response, and the reported results changed after the company investigated.
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Why DuckDuckGo can show Bing-related anomalies
DuckDuckGo’s current help documentation says its results combine several sources, with most traditional web links currently coming from Bing. For a traditional result that should be removed, DuckDuckGo directs people to submit the request to Bing first; verified changes are then reflected in DuckDuckGo. If a result remains, DuckDuckGo says it may originate from another source and advises contacting that company.
This guidance explains why Bing availability can affect DuckDuckGo, but it does not prove that every technical detail of the 2022 incident came from the same mechanism. See DuckDuckGo’s current removal guidance.
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Timeline of the incident
| Date | Development | What it establishes |
|---|---|---|
| April 15, 2022 | TorrentFreak reported missing or reduced results for selected domains and youtube-dl. | Some queries produced unusual output; the cause was unknown. |
| April 17, 2022 | DuckDuckGo said its records showed YouTube-dl and The Pirate Bay had not been removed in direct searches and identified site: issues. |
The company denied a recorded delisting of those domains. |
| April 18, 2022 | TorrentFreak reported that additional flagged domains had returned after it contacted DuckDuckGo. | The anomaly was temporary in the tested cases. |
| April 19, 2022 | The Independent reported Weinberg’s denial of a purge and said its checks found the sites. | Contemporaneous follow-up contradicted the strongest “quiet removal” interpretation. |
How to interpret a missing search result
- Separate the query type. Compare a
site:search with the site’s name and a complete URL. Operator failures can affect one form without proving domain-wide removal. - Check more than one search engine. DuckDuckGo says most traditional links come from Bing, so a Bing-side indexing problem can be reflected in DuckDuckGo.
- Check the date. Search indexes and result pages change. A result missing on one day is not evidence of a permanent policy.
- Look for an official explanation. In this case, DuckDuckGo’s recorded explanation and the subsequent return of results supplied stronger evidence than the initial absence alone.
Does DuckDuckGo’s 2024 EU transparency report explain this?
No. DuckDuckGo’s EU Digital Services Act transparency report covers moderation activity from February 17 through December 31, 2024. It was published in February 2025 and is not a record of the April 2022 search anomaly. It should not be used to label that incident either moderation or non-moderation activity.
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What the evidence supports
- Selected DuckDuckGo queries showed missing or reduced results on April 15, 2022.
- The initial observation did not establish intentional delisting, a copyright motive or a site-wide disappearance.
- DuckDuckGo said YouTube-dl and The Pirate Bay had not been removed in direct name or URL searches and pointed to a faulty
site:operator. - DuckDuckGo later attributed other anomalies to Bing data, and TorrentFreak reported the additionally flagged domains returned by April 18.
- Current DuckDuckGo documentation confirms substantial reliance on Bing for traditional links, while remaining separate from the historical incident.
The Bottom Line
The 2022 episode looked like DuckDuckGo was quietly removing pirate sites, but the follow-up evidence supports a temporary site:-operator and Bing-data problem rather than a confirmed purge.
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