Mozilla Firefox is conducting research to assess whether users of its Mozilla Firefox browser are likely to accept a new default search engine. Currently, search queries inserted into the Mozilla Firefox address bar are sent to Google by default. However, Mozilla Firefox temporarily changed the default search engine to Microsoft Bing for a small set of users. The company claims that this "experiment" affects 1% of desktop computer users and will continue for several months, probably ending in the first month of the year.
Firefox search engine
The fact that Mozilla Firefox is considering a move to Microsoft Bing is somewhat surprising, given the profitable deal the company has made with Google, which has historically accounted for more than 3-quarters of its annual revenue. Mozilla Firefox has previously said it aims to create new revenue streams (for example, from subscription products like Mozilla Firefox VPN), but giving up its relationship with Google would be a big step. One might speculate that this move has something to do with Mozilla Firefox's new focus on user privacy, an area Google isn't thought to be good at. For example, the company has already walked away from Google's plans to overhaul the digital advertising industry, which it says are fundamentally flawed. Mozilla Firefox has yet to respond to a request for clarification on the rationale. But whatever the strategy, a move to Bing will probably upset a large part of Mozilla Firefox users, who will have to alter the settings to restore Google to default values. According to the latest Statcounter data, Google is by far the most popular search engine, with XNUMX% of the market share. Microsoft Bing, meanwhile, only handles XNUMX% of search queries and hasn't been able to improve its situation significantly in recent times. Indeed, the size of Google's profit has a lot to do with its financial deals with browser companies. However, many users simply prefer Google because of the quality of the search results and will want to continue using their preferred search product. Not surprisingly, nothing is set in stone; Mozilla Firefox is still testing the impact of a change. But if the company makes a decision to make Microsoft Bing the default, a huge reaction is likely inescapable. Update: September XNUMXMozilla Firefox has since provided the following statement, which offers only a vague explanation of why:
“As part of optimizing the Mozilla Firefox experience, we conduct surveys on a regular basis. We are currently conducting research that may make certain users appreciate that their default search engine has been tampered with. To return to the search engine of their choice, users can follow these steps.