Google has relinquished ownership of the domain Duck.com and has transferred it to rival search engine DuckDuckGo.
The ownership of the Duck.com domain has been a contentious issue in the past, with DuckDuckGo asserting that it caused confusion among users.
Google acquired Duck.com in 2010 when it bought On2 Technologies, a company previously known as The Duck Corporation. It seems that Google had no intention of misleading DuckDuckGo users, as it simply owned the domain and directed it to the Google homepage.
Now, Duck.com redirects to the DuckDuckGo homepage, and CEO Gabriel Weinberg has confirmed that his company now owns the domain.
“We’re pleased Google has chosen to transfer ownership of Duck.com to DuckDuckGo. Having Duck.com will make it easier for people to use DuckDuckGo.”
There is no mention of DuckDuckGo purchasing the domain, suggesting that Google may have simply handed it over.
This development is timely, as DuckDuckGo recently accused Google of using personalized search results to keep users in a “filter bubble.”
Google countered these claims, stating that DuckDuckGo’s study was flawed and labeling the concept of vastly different search results for each individual as a myth.
Even though Google has transferred Duck.com to its competitor, there is no indication that relations between the two companies have warmed.
DuckDuckGo continues to criticize Google on Twitter and highlight the search giant’s data collection practices.
Now that the Duck.com issue has been resolved, it will be interesting to see if it leads to any significant changes in DuckDuckGo’s search volume.
