piunikaweb

piunikaweb Sign in Details Export Download Mozilla says that tough Google antitrust laws threaten the survival of independent browsers Mozilla recently informed a US appeals court that strict antitrust penalties against Google could push Firefox out of the browser business. In a “friend-of-the-court” brief filed this month, Mozilla warned that a ban on payments/funds from Google could force Mozilla and other independent browser developers to exit the browser market entirely. The info first showed up on MediaPost, which is the key source of the information presented in this article. For those unaware, Google pays Mozilla and several other companies for making Google Search the default search engine in their respective browsers. The dispute traces all the way back to 2020, when the US Department of Justice and a group of states sued Google. They claimed that Google broke competition law by securing deals with companies and making its search engine the default. Google has deals with Safari, Firefox, and more. In 2024, Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google had unlawfully maintained monopolies in general search services and ads. Five years later, in September 2025, Mehta issued a remedies order. It banned Google from exclusive distribution deals for Google Search, Chrome, Google Assistant, and the Gemini app for six years. However, the order still allowed Google to continue paying Apple, Mozilla, and other partners for default placement of its engine. Mehta noted earlier that cutting these payments would have serious effects on the companies involved and the markets around them, potentially leaving them with poor revenue, and it could force distributors toward lower-quality alternatives. What could be another major issue: it doesn’t just threaten the independent browser market. It also affects the development of Mozilla’s Gecko browser engine. This is not Mozilla’s first intervention in the appeal. In a separate friend-of-the-court brief filed in early June, the company told the same appeals court that its Google Search deal for Firefox was never “exclusive,” arguing the agreement contained no exclusivity requirement. More on that here. Recently, federal and state antitrust officials asked the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to overturn the part of Mehta’s order that permits payments to Mozilla, Apple, and other companies. Mozilla responded with its brief, saying that the judge’s decision to continue allowing payments was backed by evidence. The company also pointed to its own research, showing that its revenue would plummet if it had to replace Google with something like Bing as the default search engine. Mozilla also stressed that the company isn’t taking any sides in the overall case, and also has no position on any of the major questions. Google is expected to file its next set of arguments with the appeals court next month, and the outcome will determine whether the payments to companies like Mozilla can continue or not. The post Mozilla says that tough Google antitrust laws threaten the survival of independent browsers appeared first on PiunikaWeb. 1 thanks for reading Don't miss any news Get a weekly email with new articles close to this one. No match, no email. [email protected] Subscribe @piunikaweb More from this blog Mozilla president backs open‑source AI ‘rebel alliance’ led by Canada and the EU Mozilla president Mark Surman says Canada and the European Union could help loosen Big Tech’s hold over AI by putting more weight behind ope Google Chrome & Microsoft Edge just got way better at copy-pasting If there is one universal computing reflex we all share, it’s Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V . Copying and pasting is so fundamental to how we use our You might also like Google’s decade-long fight over forcing Chrome onto Android phones just ended, and it lost Google has officially lost its last chance to overturn one of the biggest antitrust penalties ever handed down in Europe. The European Court @piunikaweb DuckDuckGo wants to end Google’s power to be your default search engine DuckDuckGo recently published an opinion piece describing how Google is still monopolizing search. It has been nearly two years since a fede @piunikaweb EU top court upholds record $6b Google fine BRUSSELS – The EU’s top court upheld on July 2 a record €4.1 billion (S$6.05 billion) fine the bloc slapped on Google for anti-competitive p @straits-times Brave CEO calls on Apple & Mozilla to add Brave Search to the default engine picker following addition in Chrome On Mozilla Firefox and Apple’s Safari, you cannot natively select Brave Search as an option. The CEO of Brave wants that to change, since he @piunikaweb Is Google following Microsoft’s lead? Workspace admin nudged to switch from Firefox to Chrome Earlier this month, the Browser Choice Alliance sent an open letter to Microsoft’s CEO calling out the anti-competitive tactics the compan @piunikaweb Google hit with $1.3 billion EU fine, in ‘constructive’ talks to avoid more penalties BRUSSELS – Alphabet’s Google was fined a total of €890 million (S$1.3 billion) on July 23 for flouting European Union rules aimed at reining @straits-times Firefox’s Google Play check could quietly lock custom ROM users out of its AI perks Mozilla seems to have quietly integrated a Google Play Integrity API check into the Firefox for Android codebase a few months ago. The c @piunikaweb Firefox is now ahead of Safari in desktop browser market share, one tracker says Firefox may have just scored a small but notable win. According to the latest figures from Statcounter , Firefox edged past Safari in world @piunikaweb Firefox for iOS will get a built-in ad blocker very soon, team confirms Apple’s ecosystem makes building a third-party browser uniquely frustrating. Every browser on an iPhone is basically just Safari wearing a d @piunikaweb Is Firefox actually losing millions of users at an alarming rate? Several news articles and posts online over the past few weeks have claimed that Firefox is losing millions of users every month. Most of th @piunikaweb Mozilla has a new nonprofit for the AI era – should Firefox users care? Mozilla launched a new nonprofit this month called Mozilla.org, and if you use Firefox, it’s probably worth knowing what it actually does. M @piunikaweb Fresh stats reveal Edge shed a chunk of desktop browser share as Firefox gained traction Data online suggests that the desktop version of Firefox has gained some market share over the last 3 months. However, the same data also cl @piunikaweb Google probed by Swiss regulator over Android default search feature ZURICH - Switzerland’s Competition Commission (COMCO) has launched a preliminary investigation into Google’s removal of a feature that allow @straits-times Firefox to adopt Chrome’s faster 2-week update schedule starting September The web browser update race is entering a new phase. After Google switched Chrome to a two-week release cadence and Microsoft Edge followe @piunikaweb Mozilla confirms Firefox will soon block ads out-of-the-box Mozilla is working on ad-blocking, built directly into Firefox. Ajit Varma, the Head of Firefox, confirmed this in an interview with Techlor @piunikaweb Microsoft still tricks you into using Edge, new report says Two years after calling out Microsoft’s tactics around Edge, the same researchers are back with another look at Windows, and they say very l @piunikaweb Trump says EU to pay ‘very big price’ for Google fine WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump on July 24 threatened to hit the European Union with tariffs and a formal trade investigation over Br @straits-times Looking for a privacy-focused browser? Here’s what Brave’s PM recommends This year, privacy/security-centric browsers are the talk of the town. We’ve seen so many interesting projects, such as Helium, Project Lady @piunikaweb Firefox returns to X after nearly 18 months of pretending it didn’t need X Firefox has resumed posting on X after nearly 18 months of silence, with Mozilla saying it is returning because “the internet is changing a @piunikaweb 15-year dev quits Mozilla, says Firefox is trying too hard to be Chrome A longtime Mozilla developer is leaving the company after more than 15 years and he has plenty to say about why Firefox keeps losing ground. @piunikaweb Mozilla had to replace a Firefox signing key after it ended up on GitHub Mozilla has replaced one of the signing keys used for Firefox and Thunderbird after discovering that an unencrypted copy had been committed @piunikaweb Firefox is quietly building a bot that watches prices so you don’t have to Firefox has a little side project going that could change how you shop online, or at least that’s the idea. Buried inside Firefox Nightly, t @piunikaweb Mozilla engineer says don’t use Chrome Mask on sites that already support Firefox Mozilla’s web compatibility engineer has a clear message for Firefox users relying on the Chrome Mask extension: Don’t use it unless absolut @piunikaweb Mozilla releases Firefox 2026 roadmap: Keyboard shortcuts, PDF editing improvements, and more Mozilla has published an official roadmap for Firefox that gives users a glimpse into features that the team is actively developing for desk @piunikaweb Features Privacy Terms Credits