Search Engine Censorship Test Results: Find Out Which Search Engine Is The Least Censored

After hearing the unfortunate news that DuckDuckGo had deranked The Gateway Pundit from its search results, and announcing that it was going to start censoring “Russian disinformation”, I decided to test some alternative search engines to see how they compared against Google and Bing results.

The results were pretty shocking to me. Here’s a summary grid showing the highlights, but it’s worth reading the test results because this snapshot doesn’t tell the whole story.

• Google: passed 2 out of 10 tests.

• Bing: passed 7 out of 10 tests.

• DuckDuckGo: passed 5 out of 10 tests.

• Brave: passed 4 out of 10 tests.

• Qwant: passed 5 out of 10 tests.

• Startpage: passed 1 out of 10 tests.

• Mojeek: passed 6 out of 10 tests.

• Yandex: passed 9 out of 10 tests.

• ResultHunter 3 out of 10 tests.

The clear winner, by a MASSIVE margin, was Yandex. Not only did it pass the tests, it passed them with the highest quality results out of any of the search engines. I found Bing, DuckDuckGo, Qwant and Mojeek managed to squeak by with poor quality results. It’s almost as if they just delisted or deranked the major conservative news sites, but didn’t want to return MSM sources because they knew the query terms didn’t fit the MSM narrative, so all they had left to serve me were obscure sites.

I also tried out the search engine Dogpile separately, which got roughly the same results as Qwant. It’s not nearly as good as Yandex. The other nice thing about Yandex is that it includes buttons to Bing and Google at the bottom of its results so that you can instantly duplicate your query on either of those search engines without having to retype it.

You can set Yandex as your default search engine in the Brave browser by going to the “Settings” → “Search Engine” → “Manage search engines and site search”, then hitting the “Add” button and entering “Yandex” in the search engine field, “:y” in the shortcut field and “https://yandex.com/search/?text=%s&lr=20765&lang=en” in the search URL field, then selecting the entry and setting it as the “default” which will add it to the search engine list.

If you find that Yandex is returning too many Russian language results, you can use the advanced tab next to the search button and make it return English only results. Adding “&lang=en” to the end of the query URL will return English only results.

I’ve found I had to delete all the other search engines in Brave because Brave kept randomly choosing a different one for some reason. The Brave browser is still my favorite browser though, I highly recommend it. Very high privacy protections, great ad blocking and it has a built-in Tor enabled private browser.

The tests I ran and results are listed below. Keep in mind that your results may vary from mine because some search engines track your preferences, search history and location to customize your results.

Update: I added ResultHunter to the list. I think some of these search engines like DDG, ResultHunter and Mojeek may be using a Bing search engine API as their back end and then re-prioritizing results, but I’m not sure on that. I don’t think ResultHunter is censoring things themselves. I think it’s being fed censored data from the backend and its query priorities need fine tuning.

---

Results for "Russia Today" - does RT show up on the first page of results?

• https://www.google.com/search?q=russia+today

• yes - Google

• https://www.bing.com/search?q=russia+today

• yes - Bing

• https://duckduckgo.com/?q=russia+today&t=brave&ia=web

• no - DuckDuckGo

• https://search.brave.com/search?q=russia+today&source=web

• yes - Brave

• https://www.qwant.com/?q=russia+today&t=web

• no - Qwant

• https://www.startpage.com/sp/search

• no - Startpage

• https://www.mojeek.com/search?q=Russia+Today

• yes - Mojeek

• https://yandex.com/search/?text=russia+today&lr=20765

• yes - Yandex

• https://resulthunter.com/search?engine=1&q=Russia+Today

• yes - ResultHunter

Results for "Russian news" - does RT show up on the first page of results?

• https://www.google.com/search?q=russian+news

• no - Google

• https://www.bing.com/search?q=Russian+news

• yes - Bing

• https://duckduckgo.com/?q=russian+news&t=h_&ia=web

• no - DuckDuckGo

• https://search.brave.com/search?q=russian+news&source=web

• no - Brave

• https://www.qwant.com/?q=russian+news&t=web

• no - Qwant

• https://www.startpage.com/sp/search

• no - Startpage

• https://www.mojeek.com/search?q=Russian+news

• no - Mojeek

• https://yandex.com/search/?text=russian+news&lr=20765

• yes - Yandex

• https://resulthunter.com/search?engine=1&q=Russian+news

• no - ResultHunter

Results for "Veritas" - does Project Veritas show up on the first page of results?

• https://www.google.com/search?q=veritas

• no - Google

• https://www.bing.com/search?q=veritas

• yes - Bing

• https://duckduckgo.com/?q=veritas&t=h_&ia=web

• yes - DuckDuckGo

• https://search.brave.com/search?q=veritas&source=web

• Yes, but last result out of 20 - Brave

• https://www.qwant.com/?q=veritas&t=web

• yes - Qwant

• https://www.startpage.com/sp/search

• no - Startpage

• https://www.mojeek.com/search?q=veritas

• yes - Mojeek

• https://yandex.com/search/?text=veritas&lr=20765

• yes - Yandex

• https://resulthunter.com/search?engine=1&q=Veritas

• no - ResultHunter

Results for "gateway" - does Gateway Pundit show up on the first page of results?

• https://www.google.com/search?q=gateway

• no - Google

• https://www.bing.com/search?q=gateway

• no - Bing

• https://duckduckgo.com/?q=gateway&t=h_&ia=web

• no - DuckDuckGo

• https://search.brave.com/search?q=gateway&source=web

• yes - Brave

• https://www.qwant.com/?q=gateway&t=web

• no - Qwant

• https://www.startpage.com/sp/search

• no - Startpage

• https://www.mojeek.com/search?q=gateway

• yes - Mojeek

• https://yandex.com/search/?text=gateway&lr=20765

• yes - Yandex

• https://resulthunter.com/search?engine=1&q=gateway

• yes - ResultHunter

Results for "Ukraine biolabs" - Were at least 5 alt-media sources displayed on the first page of results?

• https://www.google.com/search?q=ukraine+biolabs

• no, 0, but they did include a TASS (Russian news) story - Google

• https://www.bing.com/search?q=ukraine%20biolabs

• yes, 6 - Bing

• https://duckduckgo.com/?q=ukraine+biolabs&t=h_&ia=web

• yes, 6 - DuckDuckGo

• https://search.brave.com/search?q=ukraine+biolabs&source=web

• no, 2 - Brave

• https://www.qwant.com/?q=ukraine+biolabs&t=web

• yes, 7 - Qwant

• https://www.startpage.com/sp/search

• no, 0 - Startpage

• https://www.mojeek.com/search?q=ukraine+biolabs

• yes, 8, but sources were very obscure - Mojeek

• https://yandex.com/search/?text=ukraine+biolabs&lr=20765

• yes, 5, good results, included Infowars, Gateway, TASS and RT articles, no other engine did this - Yandex

• https://resulthunter.com/search?engine=1&q=Ukraine+biolabs

• no, but it did prioritize conservative sources - ResultHunter

Results for "CONFIRMED: Obama Began Biolab Agreements in Ukraine As Early As 2005 As Senator", a random 6 hour old Infowars Headline. Was the Infowars article listed in the first page of results?

• https://www.google.com/search?q=CONFIRMED%3A+Obama+Began+Biolab+Agreements+in+Ukraine+As+Early+As+2005+As+Senator

• yes (shocking) - Google

• https://www.bing.com/search?q=CONFIRMED%3A%20Obama%20Began%20Biolab%20Agreements%20in%20Ukraine%20As%20Early%20As%202005%20As%20Senator&qs=ds&form=QBRE

• no - Bing

• https://duckduckgo.com/?q=CONFIRMED%3A+Obama+Began+Biolab+Agreements+in+Ukraine+As+Early+As+2005+As+Senator&t=h_&ia=web

• no - DuckDuckGo

• https://search.brave.com/search?q=CONFIRMED%3A+Obama+Began+Biolab+Agreements+in+Ukraine+As+Early+As+2005+As+Senator&source=web

• no, but a different Infowars article was listed - Brave

• https://www.qwant.com/?q=CONFIRMED%3A+Obama+Began+Biolab+Agreements+in+Ukraine+As+Early+As+2005+As+Senator&t=web

• no - Qwant

• https://www.startpage.com/sp/search

• yes, first listing - Startpage

• https://www.mojeek.com/search?q=CONFIRMED%3A+Obama+Began+Biolab+Agreements+in+Ukraine+As+Early+As+2005+As+Senator

• no - Mojeek

• https://yandex.com/search/?text=CONFIRMED%3A+Obama+Began+Biolab+Agreements+in+Ukraine+As+Early+As+2005+As+Senator&lr=20765

• yes, first listing - Yandex

• https://resulthunter.com/search?engine=1&q=CONFIRMED%3A+Obama+Began+Biolab+Agreements+in+Ukraine+As+Early+As+2005+As+Senator

• yes, but 2nd from bottom - ResultHunter

Results for "So here is my 'assuming best intention' current 'working hypothesis' concerning this hot mess", a header quotation from a 6 hour old Dr. Robert Malone Substack article on the Ukraine biolabs. Was the Substack article returned on the first page of results?

• https://www.google.com/search?q=So+here+is+my+%22assuming+best+intention%22+current+%22working+hypothesis%22+concerning+this+hot+mess

• no - Google

• https://www.bing.com/search?q=So%20here%20is%20my%20%22assuming%20best%20intention%22%20current%20%22working%20hypothesis%22%20concerning%20this%20hot%20mess&qs=n&form=QBRE&=%25eManage%20Your%20Search%20History%25E

• yes - Bing

• https://duckduckgo.com/?q=So+here+is+my+%22assuming+best+intention%22+current+%22working+hypothesis%22+concerning+this+hot+mess&t=h_&ia=web

• yes - DuckDuckGo

• https://search.brave.com/search?q=So+here+is+my+%22assuming+best+intention%22+current+%22working+hypothesis%22+concerning+this+hot+mess&source=web

• yes - Brave

• https://www.qwant.com/?q=So+here+is+my+%22assuming+best+intention%22+current+%22working+hypothesis%22+concerning+this+hot+mess&t=web

• yes - Qwant

• https://www.startpage.com/sp/search

• no - Startpage

• https://www.mojeek.com/search?q=So+here+is+my+%22assuming+best+intention%22+current+%22working+hypothesis%22+concerning+this+hot+mess

• no - Mojeek

• https://yandex.com/search/?text=So+here+is+my+%22assuming+best+intention%22+current+%22working+hypothesis%22+concerning+this+hot+mess&lr=20765

• yes, only article returned - Yandex

• https://resulthunter.com/search?engine=1&q=So+here+is+my+%22assuming+best+intention%22+current+%22working+hypothesis%22+concerning+this+hot+mess

• no - ResultHunter

Results for "Why did Russia invade Ukraine? 2022" - was at least one objective news story returned on the first page that included the reasons laid out in Putin's invasion speech?

• No search engine, not even the Russian based Yandex, returned an objective article that included the reasons laid out in Putin's invasion speech. Mojeek probably did the best since it only returned one mainstream western news source, while including results from various obscure Indian sources that are somewhat less biased than Western media. The level of disinformation I observed for this test was terrifying. Based on what I saw, I don't believe it is possible for an uninformed person to learn the actual reasons Russia invaded from a web search on any search engine.

Results for "evidence of election fraud 2020" - at least 5 results showing major election fraud took place.

• https://www.google.com/search?q=evidence+of+election+fraud+2020

• no, 1 - Google

• https://www.bing.com/search?q=evidence%20of%20election%20fraud%202020

• yes, 8, obscure sources - Bing

• https://duckduckgo.com/?q=evidence+of+election+fraud+2020&t=h_&ia=web

• yes, 8, obscure sources - DuckDuckGo

• https://search.brave.com/search?q=evidence+of+election+fraud+2020&source=web

• no, 2 - Brave

• https://www.qwant.com/?q=evidence+of+election+fraud+2020&t=web

• yes, 8, obscure sources - Qwant

• https://www.startpage.com/sp/search

• no, 2 - Startpage

• https://www.mojeek.com/search?q=evidence+of+election+fraud+2020

• yes, 9, not a single MSM article was returned, very obscure sources - Mojeek

• https://yandex.com/search/?text=evidence+of+election+fraud+2020&lr=20765

• yes, 14 - excellent sources, including NYPost, American Thinker, and Gateway - Yandex

• https://resulthunter.com/search?engine=1&q=evidence+of+election+fraud+2020

• no, 2 - ResultHunter

Results for "vaccine deaths" - at least 5 results providing information on the number of deaths attributed to vaccines.

• https://www.google.com/search?q=vaccine+deaths

• no, 1 (CDC propaganda site) - Google

• https://www.bing.com/search?q=vaccine+deaths

• yes, 7 but most of these were spin propaganda or poor quality - Bing

• https://duckduckgo.com/?q=vaccine+deaths&t=h_&ia=coronavirus

• yes, 7 but most of these were spin propaganda or poor quality - DuckDuckGo

• https://search.brave.com/search?q=vaccine+deaths&source=web

• no, 2 useless articles - Brave

• https://www.qwant.com/?q=vaccine+deaths&t=web

• yes, 5 but most of these were spin propaganda or poor quality - Qwant

• https://www.startpage.com/sp/search

• no, 1 a CDC site - Startpage

• https://www.mojeek.com/search?q=vaccine+deaths

• yes, 6 - Mojeek

• https://yandex.com/search/?text=vaccine+deaths&lr=20765

• yes, 10 all super high quality sources - Yandex

• https://resulthunter.com/search?engine=1&q=vaccine+deaths

• no, 1 (CDC propaganda site) - ResultHunter