Apple's CEO Testifies: Serious Consideration Given to Replacing Google with DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo CEO, Gabriel Weinberg, testified in a federal court that Apple had considered replacing Google as the default search engine in private browsing mode with DuckDuckGo. Weinberg stated that Apple showed genuine interest in the idea and had about 20 meetings and phone calls with DuckDuckGo between 2016 and 2019. However, Apple's contract with Google to be the default search engine on its Safari browser was a significant obstacle. Despite DuckDuckGo's efforts, the partnership did not materialize, and the company also failed to reach similar agreements with Samsung, Mozilla, and Opera due to their contracts with Google.