diff --git a/searxng/limiter.toml b/searxng/limiter.toml
index 190f8df..14ca0c2 100644
--- a/searxng/limiter.toml
+++ b/searxng/limiter.toml
@@ -2,5 +2,6 @@
 # See https://github.com/searxng/searxng/blob/master/searx/limiter.toml
 
 [botdetection.ip_limit]
-# activate link_token method in the ip_limit method
-link_token = true
+# activate advanced bot protection
+# enable this when running the instance for a public usage on the internet
+link_token = false
diff --git a/searxng/settings.yml b/searxng/settings.yml
index 232639f..d4a846a 100644
--- a/searxng/settings.yml
+++ b/searxng/settings.yml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ use_default_settings: true
 server:
   # base_url is defined in the SEARXNG_BASE_URL environment variable, see .env and docker-compose.yml
   secret_key: "ultrasecretkey"  # change this!
-  limiter: true  # can be disabled for a private instance
+  limiter: false  # enable this when running the instance for a public usage on the internet
   image_proxy: true
 ui:
   static_use_hash: true