Firefox app on android. Never seen this before until today. But Firefox is now putting ads in the app?

    • brianpeiris@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      I think people need to appreciate that Mozilla is probably the only company in the world that will allow you to turn off ads like this, for free.

      • fodor@lemmy.zip
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        2 months ago

        Ah hahahaha no. That’s not even close to true. Do we seriously need to mention the dozens of alternative web browsers out there?

        • humanamerican@lemmy.zip
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          2 months ago

          There are not dozens of alternative browsers. There is Chromium, Safari, and Firefox, with a few niche options that aren’t really production ready yet and may never be. The “variety” you speak of is just Chromium in lots of disguises.

          • fodor@lemmy.zip
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            2 months ago

            And here, my friend, you forgot what OP was posting about. Let me refresh your memory. Built in advertising. They don’t like it. So … even if we ignore the dozens of non-Chromium non-Firefox based browsers on the market, like you did for no good reason, OP could still solve their problem by using one of these derivatives.

            Facts and logic, together!

            • humanamerican@lemmy.zip
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              2 months ago

              So condescending for no good reason…

              Anyway, I didn’t forget. I just pointed out that we have an illusion of choice, and that a lot of people who use Firefox do so, at least in part, to fight the Google monoculture.

              As for your claim that there are dozens of alternative browser engines on the market, you’re going to have to provide some evidence for me to take that seriously. And remember I was limiting the scope to browsers that could feasibly be used as a daily driver for the modern web, not some pet project that crashes when you try to load DoorDash.

    • calliope@retrolemmy.com
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      2 months ago

      I turn everything off in Firefox’s new page except search! I always found the news stuff distracting too.

      • XLE@piefed.social
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        2 months ago

        You should be able to turn off “web search” too if you go to the page mentioned in the parent comment.

        (Note the Edit icon in the corner of the homepage does not give you all the options. It used to let you turn off sponsored content, but Mozilla removed that a couple versions ago.)

      • katy ✨@piefed.blahaj.zone
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        2 months ago

        that’s typically what i do but on desktop i turn off search too since a) i use the awesomebar primarily and b) my ntp is a background and i’d rather see that for a cleaner look :)

  • CerebralHawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    If you don’t disable it, they always have.

    My Android phone isn’t my primary and does not have an active SIM in it (it’s WiFi only), but my Firefox has no ads, and blocks all the ads (that I’ve encountered at least). iOS… is iOS. I mainly use Safari there, but, that’s a whole other story. Suffice it to say, I don’t have this problem on either handset.

  • Ardens@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    So, every real alternative to Firefox, is most likely based on all the work that Mozilla has done on Firefox. People get it for free, and yet they crumple and whine, when Mozilla tries to get the money to keep steady development going.

    I want it free, I want them to do all the work, and then I’m going to use another browser, based on their work, because I don’t like that great development cost money - and I won’t pay! Buhuu!

    Get over yourself. Mozilla does great work for users worldwide. Don’t like to see ads? Then start donating! Grow TF up, and realize that nothing is free in a capitalistic world!

    • limer@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      I prefer to view this as a socialist. Firefox is the work of tens of thousands of laborers, and is not owned by an out of touch upper class. Yet, they are mismanaging it.

      It took me time to realize that I, a highly trained engineer, was a laborer and have similar issues to most people the last few centuries.

      It is literally needed that the workers of Firefox rise up and revolt before the entire project is harmed beyond repair

    • ravenaspiring@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      While I get the sentiment, I think you are missing the two pieces here. One is that advertising is not the only method of monetization which can support something like Firefox. The second is that advertising is by it’s nature influence. Both in influence over the purchaser and reader. It’s an influence we should not approve of in both cases, without better boundaries.

      • Ardens@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        Oh, do enlighten me. How should they get som money otherwise?

        I think Mozilla loathe ads as much as you and I… But do enlighten os, how can they earn enough money otherwise?

    • azdle@news.idlestate.org
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      2 months ago

      Donating to Mozilla doesn’t change any behavior in Firefox.

      Also, donations to Mozilla don’t go towards Firefox development. As far as I’m aware the only way to “give” money to Mozilla Corp (who work on Firefox, as opposed to the Mozilla Foundation) is to subscribe to the VPN service they resell.

      • Ardens@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        It might… But I guess it’s easier to just badmouth Firefox.

    • calliope@retrolemmy.com
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      2 months ago

      My question is: can it be turned off?

      Mozilla has been trying to get me to look at news or use Pocket for years now, but it’s easy to turn off.

      Edit to add: my above reference to turn off two different settings I’ve turned off for years now seemed obvious to me that I assumed it could be turned off.

      Lot of people didn’t read past the first sentence.

      Oooh this is lemmy.ml. Fuck gross bye

      • verdigris@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        Yes. I’m pretty sure you can disable sponsored suggestions in the options, or you can also just delete the individual sponsored options. I’ve not seen one of these in the last 4 years.

      • Ardens@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        Mozilla Firefox have never forced you to do anything in regards of ads. They fight for your right, for your freedom. Do you know there’s a help file in the browser? It’s a lot easier to use, than to write in here about mundane problems.

      • isyasad@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Settings>Homepage>Sponsored shortcuts

        I turned it off a long time ago, I don’t think this is new.

      • deczzz@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 months ago

        Not enough though. You are competing with unlimited money from Google and friends. MAYBE Ladybird browser will be another great foss browser. Time will tell. Go donate or support that project if you aren’t satisfied with Mozilla (for which there are many reasons not to, but each to his own).

    • Tug@kbin.earth
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      2 months ago

      This should be towards the top. I’ve been on FF4A for years now and they’ve had those links there the whole time. You can toggle them off if yku don’t want them.

      • lost_faith@lemmy.ca
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        2 months ago

        how many people see that page tho? when i open a new tab i don’t even see the page, I open new pages quite often, all i see is the address bar until i type and hit enter. never even saw the “sponsored content”

        • verdigris@lemmy.ml
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          2 months ago

          You must have changed an option, by default the page shows up every time you open a new tab. (Though you can disable the ads on it)

          • lost_faith@lemmy.ca
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            2 months ago

            I have wonderful tunnel vision. I opened a new tab and actually looked at the page and they do in fact exist, I have 3 sponsored links, I just never actually look at the page until i hit enter cause there is nothing of interest til then hehe

      • Ardens@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        You can literrally change that with just a few clicks. It takes a few seconds…

        But I guess you don’t like that great software costs money to develop, so you will start using those alternatives that wouldn’t exist, if it were not for Mozilla/Firefox… Make that make sense!

        • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de
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          2 months ago

          Me too, but its surely still a decision that has much worse of an impact on the average non techie user than a random little bookmark thats even easier to remove.

    • Olap@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      They get donations. Lots of them. And it is open source. I don’t expect ads in firefox, no

      • ashx64@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        They get some small donations from some users… and Google.

        It being open source means nothing. Open source developers still need to eat. It just means that you could remove all the things you don’t like.

          • Ardens@lemmy.ml
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            2 months ago

            And freeloading is the reason why we have an ad-based economy… Do you donate? Do you work for free?

            • Olap@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              I have worked for free on OS projects, I have donated to OS projects. None of this changes my opinion that Firefox should not have ads

              • Ardens@lemmy.ml
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                2 months ago

                Then what should it have? You haven’t donated to it, so what do you do?

          • ashx64@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Mozilla gets fucking loads

            From Google. And if that deal disappeared, Mozilla would probably go bankrupt or rely on a worse deal from another provider. Neither would be good for Firefox development.

            It makes sense that Mozilla wants to branch out, diversify. It just sucks that they’re terrible at doing it. Would have been cool if Mozilla operated like Proton or any other privacy-orientated service provider.

            most open source software manages to avoid ads, why do you think that is

            Because they have scruples and usually have financial issues as a result.

            • Olap@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              Firefox would be better off without Mozilla at this stage. The donations mozilla receives from individuals supporting firefox would pay for a large dev team easily. Google is a total red-herring and this money is spraffed on exec pay afaict, and they should be ending this today, as has been said by many other people

              • ashx64@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                If that was true, then why don’t we have a fork of Firefox being developed by the community that is better than Firefox?

                The only thing we have now are forks of Firefox. Sure, some are better, but all still rely on Mozilla’s upstream contributions. If Mozilla stopped supporting Firefox, these forks would be dead. They just add some features and UI changes. They are not working on web standards, fixing implementations of those standards, or security fixes.

            • Tattorack@lemmy.worldOP
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              2 months ago

              You’re severely underestimating the development burden of an industry standard 3D modelling program, much less the Swiss army knife that Blender 3D is.

              If The Blender Foundation can operate with donations from big corporations like NVIDIA and AMD without selling out, then Mozilla has no excuse.

              • verdigris@lemmy.ml
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                2 months ago

                They’re both mature software packages with a ton of features. There are two gigantic obligations that a browser & especially web engine have that creative software don’t: massive security exposure and constantly changing web standards. Both create development burdens that are both non-trivial and time-sensitive. Many FOSS projects update at their own pace, which is simply not an option for a modern, feature-complete web engine.

              • Blisterexe@lemmy.zip
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                2 months ago

                They’re very different models though, currently blender has a bunch of sponsors and companies who contribute, firefox doesn’t have that, because the project is structured differently, and it’s a different type of software.

      • Ardens@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        So you donate, do you? Or are you working for free in general?

        • Tattorack@lemmy.worldOP
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          2 months ago

          I contribute to a major Bionicle fan project. Yes, for free. I’ve been offered a reward for my work on said fan project. I refused it.

          • Ardens@lemmy.ml
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            2 months ago

            Oh, so you do free work on a project that doesn’t do anything good for the internet, the internet users, internet freedom, and so forth - and that makes it okay to demand that you are provided with free software, that competes against multi-billion-dollar companies?

    • Ardens@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      Based on Firefox, and would not exist, if Mozilla didn’t have income.

      I guess you want it all for free, and are not yet grown up, and know how the world works.

    • Tattorack@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 months ago

      Yeah… Never knew that setting existed because this is the first time I’m even seeing a sponsor.

      If it was something besides some big Corpo I’d probably not have minded…

      • XLE@piefed.social
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        2 months ago

        Mozilla’s #1 sponsor is Google, which is why you’ll see two Google logos on a fresh install of FF (after you click through their initial setup screens)