"DuckDuckGo, though, claims it is a “private” search engine and that it never tracks users. However, according to Granville, a look at the search site’s source code shows that DuckDuckGo does include several cookies." (from: https://godfatherpolitics.com/....report-search-site-d

Report: Search Site DuckDuckGo Hands User Data Over to Google
godfatherpolitics.com

Report: Search Site DuckDuckGo Hands User Data Over to Google

If you think you are avoiding the intrusive practices of Google by using alternative search site DuckDuckGo, you may be very wrong.