diff --git a/backend/open_webui/retrieval/web/duckduckgo.py b/backend/open_webui/retrieval/web/duckduckgo.py
index 27d56f6934..2d57b071cd 100644
--- a/backend/open_webui/retrieval/web/duckduckgo.py
+++ b/backend/open_webui/retrieval/web/duckduckgo.py
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import logging
 import urllib.request
 
 from ddgs import DDGS
-from ddgs.exceptions import RatelimitException
 from open_webui.retrieval.web.main import SearchResult, get_filtered_results
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -31,21 +30,11 @@ def search_duckduckgo(
     # Resolve via stdlib getproxies() — same pattern as the other loaders.
     env_proxies = urllib.request.getproxies()
     proxy = env_proxies.get('https') or env_proxies.get('http')
-    search_results = []
     with DDGS(proxy=proxy) as ddgs:
         if concurrent_requests:
             ddgs.threads = concurrent_requests
 
-        # Use the ddgs.text() method to perform the search
-        try:
-            kwargs = {'safesearch': 'moderate', 'max_results': count}
-            if backend and backend != 'auto':
-                kwargs['backend'] = backend
-            results = ddgs.text(query, **kwargs)
-            search_results = results if results is not None else []
-        except RatelimitException as e:
-            log.error(f'RatelimitException: {e}')
-            search_results = []
+        search_results = ddgs.text(query, safesearch='moderate', max_results=count, backend=backend or 'auto')
     if filter_list:
         search_results = get_filtered_results(search_results, filter_list)