Exclusive data from a poll conducted by YouGov on behalf of The Drum shows that most consumers are concerned about their personal information being shared by search engines like Google and Bing without their consent. They also believe that search engines have a huge responsibility in protecting users ’personal data.

Here are the top takeaways from the survey, conducted on more than 1,000 US internet users:

1. Consumers care about search engines collecting and sharing their data

In the poll, 91% of all respondents said it was either very important or somewhat important to them that, when using a search engine, their personal information would only be shared with other parties with explicit consent.

Only 7% of respondents said it was not very important or not really important.

2. Consumers believe that search engines have a responsibility to protect their data

The results show that 65% of respondents believe that search engines should take great responsibility for protecting the personal information of individual users. An additional 21% believe they should have a fair amount of responsibility.

11% said search engines should have little or no responsibility for protecting user data.

3. Users still prefer Google over privacy -centered search engines

Despite their interest in personal data protection, most users still rely on the big kid on the block: Google. 78% of respondents said they were the most frequent searchers on Google; 6% said they use Bing and 4% prefer Yahoo.

While Google has succeeded – and headlines – over the past few years in its increasingly strict commitment to privacy (particularly in stopping the use of third -party cookies in Chrome and in its various Privacy Sandbox efforts company), it was slapped by lawsuit after lawsuit. claiming it is better on paper than in practice when it comes to user data privacy.

4. DuckDuckGo had an uptick

There’s a small but growing minority of users who, keeping to Google’s spotted past of privacy, are looking elsewhere. A remarkable 7% of respondents to The Drum’s YouGov poll are the most common users of DuckDuckGo, which has built an infrastructure and a brand around the promise that it protects users ’privacy. DuckDuckGo does not track users or allow third-party tracking of users across the web, and therefore does not produce filtered search results based on patterns of individual users ’online behavior.

While it remains a challenge in space, 34% of those surveyed said they have used DuckDuckGo in the past and another 30% say they have heard of it but haven’t tried it yet. According to the company’s own report, DuckDuckGo’s daily queries rose 27% year-to-date.

5. Users looking for courage using Brave

Brave, a newer privacy -centric browser launched in 2019, is also evaporating. 11% of consumers surveyed said they had used Brave before, and 9% said they had heard of it but hadn’t tried it yet-even though less than a full percent chose it as their search engine of choice.

Brave is eager to identify itself as a strong contender for users who care about protecting their personal information from Google and Google’s countless advertising partners. “When users are on the web, they should be in charge of their data and experience, not Google,” said Peter Snyder, the company’s senior director of privacy. “Brave is a user-first platform. It’s time to take control of Google; it starts with privacy by default and by re -establishing a direct link between users and their favorite content. ”

Based on data from this survey, it appears that web traffic to DuckDuckGo and Brave is likely to see continued growth until 2022.

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