this post was submitted on 12 May 2026

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EU browser choice rules send millions more users Firefox's way (www.theregister.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by throws_lemy@reddthat.com to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] spaceracoon@lemmy.zip 102 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

Man it's so funny how the only company that even thinks about allowing you to not have AI, gets so much shit from people.

OK you don't like AI, you can turn in off. They added an option for that. Meanwhile Chrome is automatically downloading 4gb worth of models without your consent. Same with basically each other browser.

Folks are free to use whichever distro they like, Librefox, Waterfox, but remember that without Mozilla foundation the very engine would stop working. Then these forks will not work anymore. Then where will you go? Chromium? Safari?

It's important to keep companies accountable, but nothing is ever black and white.

[–] 1984@lemmy.today 30 points 3 weeks ago

People seem to care more about synthetic benchmarks than using a browser that gives them much less tracking and ads. Remember when chrome was popular because its so fast? I never noticed a difference between that and Firefox in ordinary web pages, except Googles, since they are intentionally making it slow for Firefox.

And with all that going on, people still picked chrome. :)

[–] czardestructo@lemmy.world 28 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

[–] timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah I get the feeling like 70+% of people here will never understand that.

[–] imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

OK you don’t like AI, you can turn in off. They added an option for that. Meanwhile Chrome is automatically downloading 4gb worth of models without your consent. Same with basically each other browser.

Because Chrome is used by normies who have no idea and wont care while Firefox is used by tech-literate users who care and like to tinker. The backlash was because FF implemented AI that you had to go to about:settings to disable. Result of backlash - a switch in settings to disable it.

It would be smart to implement AI and advertise people that they can switch it ON if they want to. Not the other way.

Folks are free to use whichever distro they like, Librefox, Waterfox, but remember that without Mozilla foundation the very engine would stop working. Then these forks will not work anymore

There is nothing to go to. But if we accept the outcome, we just submit to the system. Might as well switch to chrome at that point hoping that Servo gets developed fast enough. Firefox would lose their browser share at an instant once they are not different from chromium based browsers. Basically seppuku themselves.

Not understanding your user base is how you get a backlash.

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[–] KatherinaReichelt@feddit.org 13 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah - people love to shit on Mozilla while posting from fucking Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.

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[–] skami@lemmy.ml 74 points 3 weeks ago (12 children)

Nice but it's kinda wierd how people decided to use these browsers after this new law was passed, I mean it's so easy to install apps on smartphones right now but people needed this choice screen to choose another browser of their liking? I would guess it's probably old people that switched that didn't know how to install browser without it, I googled but couldn't find any prove of this tho so it's just my guts

[–] axh@lemmy.world 127 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

It's laziness. Most people just take the path of the least resistance.

Once you show them the screen, any choice is the same amount of work so they will select what they really want. But without the screen, 90% of people will be good enough with the default option. Or, they might even be mildly uncomfortable with that option, but not enough to do something about it.

[–] sexy_peach@feddit.org 56 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It’s laziness. Most people just take the path of the least resistance.

we all do in many parts of life

[–] axh@lemmy.world 47 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

I didn't say it's a bad thing. If someone tried to pay attention to every little choice they make, they would be exhausted before the morning coffee.

What kind of browser I use is important to me, since I am a geek. But I don't pay attention to many things that more socially adept people would consider important.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 17 points 3 weeks ago

If someone tried to pay attention to every little choice they make, they would be exhausted before the morning coffee.

Story of my life.

[–] reksas@sopuli.xyz 13 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

the trick is to know what is worth paying attention to and what is not

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

How do?

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[–] skami@lemmy.ml 18 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Yeah I guess people doesn't really care all that much about giving information to big tech, it's so normalized today, in my university (I am a student) when I tell people I don't use Instagram or TikTok and whatnot they look at me like I am crazy, tbh maybe if we define crazy as "not doing what everyone around you does" maybe I am

[–] axh@lemmy.world 16 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

people doesn't really care all that much about giving information to big tech

I was one of those people some time ago. I remember doing it deliberately and saying "what will they do to me? Offer me a product that better suits my needs?"

I never had any issues because of that...

right now I decline each time, the more work it costs me, the more motivated I am to decline every single marketing consent.

I do it out of spite, because of all the enshitification happening to services I used to like, and I just try to make their life harder.

I really hope that Google will, some day, miss one cent needed for some huge multi billion deal thanks to my resistance! ;)

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[–] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

people doesn't really care all that much about giving information to big tech

To be fair, we haven’t had all the consequences of it hit the population yet.

Surveillance pricing might change the narrative

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[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

If people are going to talk about the details of their divorce in a tiktok video I doubt they care much that someone is tracking what products they looked at on amazon.

[–] morto@piefed.social 31 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

We tend to overestimate people's skill in tech. The average user uses what came installed, doesn't like installing and experimenting apps, uses a browser while logged in to google, taps yes on everything, will install apps when sites ask for it, without even noticing, and will register in every site or app that asks for it, and even give their real email, name, etc

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[–] utopiah@lemmy.world 26 points 3 weeks ago

it’s so easy to install apps on smartphones right now

Providing choice as a default is precisely about people who are influenced by defaults. It's NOT about how feasible something technically is.

[–] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 24 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

i've legit seen many people who have no idea what a web browser is, internet == chrome/safari/edge (which opens automatically when clicking a link on some app) for them. this isn't just older people, actually it's usually worse with younger people.

[–] Samsy@lemmy.ml 13 points 3 weeks ago

Meet my wife! Since this screen, she uses the duckduckgo browser (iOS) Idk why, she neither, but she is happy with it.

[–] minorkeys@sh.itjust.works 10 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

It isn't that weird. Users have a very low tolerance for independence, especially as tech markets itself to less and less tech savvy userbases(like Gen alpha and z). They do what their screens tell them to for the most part.

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[–] oats@piefed.zip 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

If i want the internet, I tap on the little internet app. Wth is a browser?

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[–] carrylex@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago

It's like browser war 1.0 all over again but only on mobile...

(Microsoft had to do the exact same thing after they preinstalled Internet Explorer with Windows)

[–] TheWorstNL@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

Chrome disabling ad-blocking doesn't hurt either.

[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

If something is good enough to do what you want you have no real motivation to change. People posting here are far more concerned about privacy than most people based on how much people seem to voluntarily share online anyway.

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[–] rekabis@lemmy.ca 43 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

Now if only Apple will let Firefox run its own rendering engine instead of Safari’s.

Like, that’s the only thing I don’t get. Other apps which are not web browsers, fine. Use Safari. But an actual web browser? FFS, let them use their own engine.

[–] pwxd@lemmy.zip 7 points 3 weeks ago

You can! There's a browser called reynard and it's based off gecko web browser but you still need to sideload them, it isn't available in App Store :-(

The main goal for this browser is to make web browsing usable for older iOS, I find it pretty neat so I wanted to share this!

https://github.com/byeCl0ud/reynard-browser-compiled

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[–] zr0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 34 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Now if Mozilla would finally get a CEO who is not driven by stupid capitalistic bullshit, I would actually start using Firefox again.

Until then, I stick to WaterFox.

[–] foxfell@lemmy.ml 11 points 3 weeks ago (12 children)

Why not LibreWolf?

[–] zr0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 3 weeks ago

For the same reason I don’t like Chromium or Alpine Linux. Minimalism can be nice, however in most cases too many features were stripped away to be useful tools. At least for me, so no offense to people who love the minimalistic approach :)

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[–] UltraBlack@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Isn't waterdox owned by a weird company?

[–] PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world 20 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Not anymore. It’s owned by the creator again.

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