DDG has never been able to secure my trust. I am an IT professional who has rigorously tested dozens of search engines. My five favorites are: Brave, MetaGer, Mojeek, Qwant, and Swisscows -- none of which are hosted in the USA. DDG is nearly as insecure as Google or BIng.

DDG's lack of transparency in operating policies, blocking trackers, yet allowing some trackers (anonymous or not) without clearly informing users destroys trust and credibility.

https://thenextweb.com/news/duckduckgo-microsoft-tracking-sparks-backlash

If you read the entire DDG policies, you will discover that they pass data to affiliates eBay and Amazon.