Mozilla brings sponsored content to the Firefox search bar

The browser market remains a highly competitive area. While Google Chrome has secured the top position in many places in recent years, Microsoft is fighting for the remaining market share with Edge, Mozilla with Firefox and Apple with Safari. But such a fight costs money, after all, the development, but also the sales, have to be financed in the long term.

Mozilla has a particularly difficult time here, as there is no multi-billion dollar company behind the browser. The organization secures its financing primarily through deals, so Google transfers millions every year in order to be preset as the default search engine. Now another source of income could open up to Firefox.

Because in addition to the suggestions for content on the “New Tab” page, recommendations could soon find their way into the search bar. Dynamic search suggestions are not new in browsers, Firefox has had this functionality for years, but the approach now presented goes one step further. From now on, content financed by advertising partners will also be shown.

The privacy of the user should continue to be preserved with the new solution, for the selection Mozilla still processes the location of the user and the entered search terms. For example, if you search for “Costa Rica”, the appropriate travel guide will be suggested as the result. Only advertising partners who meet Mozilla’s security standards will be included in the search.

The new feature could be rolled out with version 93.0. The user is then asked whether he would like to activate the suggestions in the search. The setting can also be activated or deactivated afterwards under “Security & data protection”. So if you trust and want to support Mozilla, you can do so by activating the option.

Own opinion:

Agencies and advertising partners are fighting more and more for our attention and are always looking for new ways to present us with advertisements. In the meantime, unfortunately, hardly a day goes by in which the user without a content blocker has his peace of mind and can concentrate on surfing a page. It is necessary for Firefox to go this way (after all, the browser should remain free), but it is laudable that the user can decide whether he wants to activate the function.

Via The Verge