How does duckduckgo make money?

I've read that they use [ads and partnerships](https://marketrealist.com/p/how-does-duckduckgo-make-money/), but I imagine most people who use Duckduckgo use an adblocker. So how is Duckduckgo profitable? Do we have any third party proof that they don't sell user data?



I often see people repeating duckduckgo's marketing material, saying it's the most private, but is that really true?



Duckduckgo has been caught trying to [track users](https://cyberguy.com/privacy/duckduckgo-privacy-browser-caught-sending-tracking-data-to-microsoft/) and [censor search](https://www.pcmag.com/news/duckduckgo-to-down-rank-sites-associated-with-russian-disinformation) results that it considers to be misinformation.

duckduckgo marketing material people privacy private