DuckDuckGo vs Microsoft

DuckDuckGo genuinely doesn't build a profile of your searches or browsing — the policy is short because the collection is genuinely minimal — but it's a US company, ad clicks are routed through Microsoft's network, and optional features like Email Protection require you to hand over personal data under a separate policy.

Microsoft's privacy statement covers an enormous product surface — Windows, Office, Azure, Bing, Xbox, and Copilot — and the data practices vary dramatically across them. The umbrella policy is deliberately vague, deferring almost all specifics to product-level documentation. Cross-product data combination, AI model training on your content, and employer/school access to your files and communications are the key risks most consumers don't realise they're accepting.