Warning from Brave to not add search engines

I am using the BRAVE browser with DuckDuckGo as my search engines. But on the DuckDuckGo home page, I keep getting a pop up message asking me to “add DuckDuckGo to CHROME”. It seems that the DuckDuckGo is recognizing Brave as Chrome—because it uses the Chromium base. When I click on it it takes me to the Chrome app store and gives me the option to “add to Chrome”. But when I clicked on it, I got a pop up message from Brave which said something like: “This app has not been authenticated by Brave and may redirect your search…” So of course I did not install it. This is not just happening with DuckDuckGo, it is also happening with the STARTPAGE search engine too.!

It sounds like it’s prompting you to install the DuckDuckGo extension, which you don’t really have to have, but you can almost certainly ignore the warning and just install it if you want it. I’ve been running it for months. Same with Startpage if it’s an extension it’s trying to tell you about. But in both cases, you can have them as your search engine without installing the extensions. I don’t remember if the prompts have a button that says no and don’t bother me again, but if they do, click it and search on.

Basically, most extensions on the Chrome web store are going to have this warning. If the extension is from a source you trust, you can probably ignore the warning and be fine. @Mattches, are you able to comment?

@soseysme,
Is this the warning message you’re referring to?

If so, you’ll see this type of warning when installing any extension. We would like you to be informed and understand that installing 3rd party software into your browser may have unintended consequences.

Brave will protect you from almost anything while online – however, if a 3rd party extension has been compromised and already given permission/access to a users browser then there’s only so much we can do on our end to protect you. It would be like having a security system installed in your home that covers every window, door and possible point of entry. But that security system can’t stop the plumber – to whom you’ve given access to your house – from robbing you.

As such, you should be properly warned of the risks before installing.

So, what @Mattches said is about what I expected given his position. Basically, he’s saying that Brave is warning you that installing things they haven’t vetted might be bad, much as hiring a corrupt plumber is bad. My point is that if you know the plumber or he/she has a good reputation and you trust the plumber, go ahead and hire the plumber to do the work (install the extension from trusted source). But he can’t say that since he’s part of Brave, which I totally understand and hope everyone else does, as well. As far as I know, none of the extensions I’ve installed have compromised my systems. Between the reputations of the authors and Google’s cough vetting process, I’m reasonably comfortable with my security. YMMV.

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