DuckDuckGo is a VERY reputable Search Engine...

[Dr. Avast]

I'm trying out Avast again after some years away. I like the changes & am just surprised that Avast doesn't recognize DuckDuckGo as THE most reputable search engine out there. Worse yet, I get the message repeatedly, despite having looked for a way to silence this errant alert.

In my long experience with DuckDuckGo, it is as fast & delivers as comprehensive as set of results as Google. it however scores major points by NOT TRACKING your search queries - unlike Google, Bing, Yahoo and the others.

Is Avast anti-privacy???

[Asyn]

Most probably a bug, as DDG is even included in Avast Secure Browser.

[Cluster-Lizard2014]

How do recent versions of AVAST respond to Startpage the other well known and widely used 'privacy' orientated browser search engine?

Could it be caused by !bangs:-

!bangs are short commands you can type into DuckDuckGo (or other search engines) to search another site without having to first visit it. You use them by typing an exclamation point (sometimes called a “bang”), followed by a shortcut for the website you want to search.

I had to look up that term myself as I had not come across it before although I'd always understood that with some 'private' search engines that when they link you direct to Google, Amazon etc search results those sites' tracking policies effectively trump your search engine's privacy settings.

Searching on Google is not private, even if you use DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo is failing its users if it is conveying that searches are private using !bangs.

In other words once you use a !bang link you could be being tracked. Also the 'supported' !bangs can also be dodgy in themselves too and DDG apparently has had to do a clear out recently.

https://search.slashdot.org/story/18/12/03/2113257/search-engine-duckduckgo-removes-pirate-site-bangs-to-avoid-liability

If correct, could this reported AVAST behaviour be because you've used a !bang link and it is warning you about that?