Mozilla Also Defends Google Revenue Sharing Agreement
Mozilla, which in 2023 received about 75 percent of its revenue from royalties paid by Google and other search providers for search engine usage in Firefox, worries that the US Justice Department’s proposed ban on the very same Google Search payments would be rather harmful.
[…]
Google’s payments to Apple for making its search service the default in the Safari browser, which reached around $20 billion in 2022, discouraged competition, as the Justice Department argued and the court agreed. However, by banning such payments to browser makers, the government’s remedy could choke off Mozilla’s primary revenue source, putting its operations (and non-trivial executive paychecks) at risk.
“These proposed remedies prohibiting search payments to small and independent browsers miss the bigger picture – and the people who will suffer most are everyday internet users,” said Mark Surman, president of Mozilla, in a statement Monday.
Alexander Pushkov at al. (Hacker News):
While Mozilla has always championed user privacy and an open web, the increasing reliance on Google for revenue raises important questions about our shared commitment to these values.
Now is the time for Mozilla to take bold steps to reinforce its identity as a privacy-centric nonprofit and to prioritize the Firefox browser as the heart of your mission.
It is time to reevaluate the partnership with Google and seek alternatives that align with Mozilla’s values. By distancing itself from Google, Mozilla can reaffirm its commitment to user privacy and autonomy, fostering trust among its user base.
Previously:
- Mozilla Changes Firefox Terms of Use
- Apple to Defend Google Revenue Sharing Agreement
- DOJ Wants Google to Sell Chrome and De-Google Android
- The State of Mozilla
3 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
Of course Mozilla defends their revenue sharing agreement. This isn't really news. Mozilla relies on this agreement.
I don't think we should change our opinions about the agreement based on Mozilla's biased opinion
I used to use Firefox as my development reference browser (I actually/seriously use Safari for almost all of my personal web activity), but after they changed their privacy language on GitHub the other week, I noped out for even that use-case.
The whole organization seems dysfunctional. Overpaid execs who abuse the legacy of the brand by lapping up as much cash as they can for themselves, it's basically an external property of Google (so much for the open web), plus we found they were on the government dole via USA ID which isn't inherently bad, but see my first point about the overpaid execs...
Still using Safari for personal, but downloaded the only Chromium browser I could stomach - Arc - for the reference browser.
"after they changed their privacy language on GitHub the other week, I noped out for even that use-case"
Worth noting that Mozilla's position on this is that they did not and do not intend to change anything in their actual behavior. They believe that what they're currently doing (e.g., integrating Google search in their browser in exchange for money) already legally requires this updated privacy policy, since it qualifies as selling user data.
IMO this is a worthwhile watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctg5QzSt5tg
Also, there are plenty of Firefox-based browsers that are entirely unaffiliated with Mozilla. I particularly like Zen.
