DuckDuckGo Cleans Up Bang Searches by Removing Pirate Sites
Many of our readers are likely aware that the private search engine DuckDuckGo offers a convenient feature called bang searches. Bang searches are one of DuckDuckGo’s most well-known and frequently used functions. The idea is simple: if you want to search for information on a specific website, you don’t need to visit the site and look for its search box.
For example, if you want to find a specific product on Amazon—let’s say a watch—you can type “!amazon watch” (or just “!a watch”) into the search bar, and you’ll be taken directly to amazon.com with the search results for watches already displayed. You can use this same method to search Twitter (!twitter), eBay (!ebay), YouTube (!yt), Facebook (!facebook), and thousands of other resources.
Recently, DuckDuckGo’s administrators conducted a major cleanup of their bang search database, removing about 2,000 bangs out of the 10,000 that existed. As a result, sites like Pirate Bay, 1337x, as well as resources like Sci-Hub and OpenSubtitles, have disappeared from the database.
Users Notice Missing Bangs
Users themselves began to notice the disappearance of certain bang searches, prompting company representatives to explain that this was part of a larger cleanup operation. The developers stated that they removed non-working bangs, as well as those that were too broad or rarely used. In addition, many pirate sites were removed and are now considered “unauthorized.”
“We hadn’t monitored the bangs for a while, and many of them had become broken. During the cleanup, we also removed some that pointed to blatantly illegal content,” the developers wrote.
It’s important to note that DuckDuckGo still indexes these sites and does not exclude them from search results. However, the administration explained that providing short search shortcuts for such resources is a step too far:
“It might not be obvious at first glance, but from a legal standpoint, there’s a big difference between bangs and search results. Since bangs are added to the product directly by us, legally this could be interpreted as an editorial decision, as if we are facilitating these sites and their content.
We operate worldwide, as do the bangs. A product that actively helps users interact with illegal content could expose us and our employees to serious legal liability, potentially threatening the existence of the entire service.”
User Reactions and Alternatives
Many users disagree with the developers’ decision, pointing out that many of the removed bang searches could also be used to find legal content. However, DuckDuckGo’s representatives are unwilling to take the risk. The search engine’s administration reminds users that they can create similar search shortcuts themselves; for example, Firefox offers this functionality, which is almost as good as bangs.