diff --git a/backend/open_webui/retrieval/web/duckduckgo.py b/backend/open_webui/retrieval/web/duckduckgo.py
index da1c3f77ec..272a4bf514 100644
--- a/backend/open_webui/retrieval/web/duckduckgo.py
+++ b/backend/open_webui/retrieval/web/duckduckgo.py
@@ -33,9 +33,14 @@ def search_duckduckgo(
 
         # Use the ddgs.text() method to perform the search
         try:
-            search_results = ddgs.text(query, safesearch='moderate', max_results=count, backend=backend)
+            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 = []
     if filter_list:
         search_results = get_filtered_results(search_results, filter_list)