Skip to main content

Firefox to take another crack at putting ads in new browser tabs

“Internet for people, not profit,” is the motto that drives Firefox creator Mozilla, but to keep the popular browser in the game takes much time, effort, and yes, money.

That’s why the organization is having another stab at working ads into its offering, with the update being included as part of Firefox 60 that’s expected to be pushed to go live this month.

Recommended Videos

The ads will appear as personalized sponsored links when a user opens a new tab in Firefox. Users of the beta version may already be seeing them.

Pocket

After Mozilla acquired read-it-later service Pocket in 2017, the browser started showing links to content “recommended by Pocket” in new tabs. In a recently posted message, Pocket CEO Nate Weiner said the new sponsored links will appear among Pocket recommendations.

Nate, who outlined the upcoming changes in his post, described today’s ad model as “broken,” claiming that it “doesn’t respect user privacy, it’s not transparent, and it lacks control, all the while starting to move us toward low-quality, clickbait content.”

But the CEO said that experiments over the last few months have shown that Firefox can serve personalized sponsored content “that provides value to users without jeopardizing their privacy.”

Nate promised that the personalization of the sponsored links will take place on the client side, “without needing to vacuum up all of your personal data or sharing it with others.”

You can also hide stories you don’t like, and, if you’re really not comfortable with Firefox’s sponsored content, you can simply disable it.

This isn’t the first time Mozilla has included ads on new tabs. It last had a crack at it in 2014, but ditched the effort the following year. “Advertising in Firefox could be a great business, but it isn’t the right business for us at this time because we want to focus on core experiences for our users,” Mozilla declared at the end of the short-lived experiment.

Mozilla, which describes itself as “proudly non-profit, non-corporate, and non-compromised,” currently receives most of its funding via contracts with search providers, and also relies on donations to keep the show on the road.

“Thousands of people like you help us stand up for an open web for all,” the organization says on its website, adding that it’s determined to “keep the web open and free.” Mozilla supports can donate funds via its website.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
I tried the trendy new Arc browser — and this one feature blew my mind
The Arc web browser running on macOS Ventura, showing the tab sidebar on the left.

I'm a tab hoarder. I'm the type that tends to have literally hundreds of tabs open at any one time (I know, it’s a problem). That makes me the last person who you’d think would enjoy a browser like Arc.

The innovative new browser stashes tabs in a sidebar and automatically archives them if they haven't been used in 24 hours. That might sound handy to you, but the thought of all my precious tabs disappearing into the archive fills me with worryingly intense anxiety.

Read more
YouTube tries new way of tackling ad blockers
Youtube video on mobile. Credits: YouTube official.

YouTube could be about to launch a widespread crackdown on folks using ad blockers.

Reports emerged last month that YouTube was deploying pop-ups to warn against the use of ad-blocking tools. But now it's taking the action one step further.

Read more
This web browser integrates ChatGPT in a fascinating new way

It’s no secret that artificial intelligence (AI) and chatbots have taken the tech world by storm in recent months. Now, the Opera browser is trying to get in on the action by releasing Opera One, which it dubs “the first AI-powered browser.”

Opera (the company) describes it as “the latest incarnation of the Opera browser,” one that has been given a “major makeover.” The company “reimagined and rebuilt Opera from the ground up,” it says, “paving the way for a new era in which AI isn’t just an add-on, but a core part of your browsing experience.”

Read more