They make money from affiliate links too. IOW their "organic" search results are actually money-making advertisements. Obviously DDG claims this revenue doesn't

They make money from affiliate links too. IOW their "organic" search results are actually money-making advertisements. Obviously DDG claims this revenue doesn't influence search rankings, but if you're the kind of cynic who tars all tech companies with the FB brush, I don't know why you'd believe that. Also, while the ads shown to you may not use as many personalized signals as Google, they are syndicated through Yahoo/Bing which means if you ever click on one, that ad network knows that much more about you. They are tracking you just as much as Google, you just don't get the benefit of increased ad relevancy. So I really don't understand the win, except inasmuch as a lot of commenters on HN hate all things Google and this gives them a way to unplug.