“It’s extremely disturbing”: Mozilla Alert, Firefox could disappear without google

On the occasion of a long -awaited audience in the of the trial brought by the United States Ministry of Justice against GoogleMozilla went up to the niche. Its financial director, Eric Muhlheim, alerted to a potentially fatal collateral effect: if Google can no longer finance Firefox to remain there by default, the free browser could disappear. A painful paradox for justice which intends to break the monopolies.

Without Google, Firefox could go out

The threat is not feigned. According to Mozilla, 85 % of its commercial income comes from the contract with Google. An apparently simple contract: in exchange for a place of choice in Firefox, Google pays several hundred million euros each year. This flow not only feeds browser development, but also free projects and foundation activities. Cut the tap, and it is the whole Mozilla building that flickers.

The American Ministry of Justice wants to prohibit Google from buying its dominant position in third -party navigators. The intention is laudable: restore competition. But in the case of Firefox, this amounts to removing his life buoy from an already marginalized browser. Muhlheim evokes a “Snowball effect” : without money, fewer engineers; Without innovation, less attraction; Without users, more income. And at the end, the end of one of the rare rendering engines (Gecko) which does not belong to a multinational.

Replace Google? Unlikely. Attempts with Bing have shown much lower profitability, and the previous ones (like Yahoo) ended in a user hemorrhage. Mozilla is therefore stuck in a double dead end: too dependent on Google to survive, and too independent to arouse solid short -term alternatives.

A shame: by wanting to limit Google’s power, justice could kill the only really free competitor. And it would ultimately be a bitter victory for the plurality of the web.

Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox is a free, open source and multi-platform web browser (Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS, Linux) which has benefited from high popularity since its release in 2004.

• Version :
  138.0.1
• Downloads:
  354
• Release date:
  05/01/2025
• Author :
  Mozilla Foundation
• License:
  Free software
• Categories:
  

  Internet

• Operating system:
  

  Android, Linux, 32 -bit Windows – 7/8/10/11, Windows 64 Bits – 7/8/10/11, Windows Portable – 7/8/10/11, iOS iPhone/iPad, macOS