Firefox updated their Terms of Use? Let's see!

As you type a search query within Firefox, Firefox offers search suggestions to provide you with faster and more direct access to what you’re looking for. Some of the search suggestions come from your search provider (“Search Suggestions”). Others come from Firefox, and are based on information stored on your local device (including recent search terms, open tabs, and previously visited URLs), or content from Mozilla and Mozilla’s partners, including paid sponsors and internet resources like Wikipedia (“Suggestions from Firefox”).

Here chat. Here. This is where Firefox dies.

"information stored in your local device" and "content from mozilla's parners" and "paid sponsors".

This is a very convoluted way of saying "we use your personal data to segment you into something we can sell to advertisers".

This is EXACTLY what chrome does, this is exactly why a lot of us stopped using Chrome and moved back to Firefox.
In some circumstances Mozilla’s partners will receive de-identified search and interaction data, in order to serve relevant suggestions and measure user engagement with suggested content.This is making me really mad. THIS IS JUST CORPO-SPEAK TO DESCRIBE HOW THE ENTIRE INTERNET ADVERTISEMENT INDUSTRY WORKS. This is HOW FACEBOOK WORK. This is how GOOGLE WORK. This is how the entire programmatic advertisement industry work. This is what we call "sell your personal data". No, no one sells your address, no one sells your name. BECAUSE IT'S ILLEGAL IN A SIGNIFICANT PART OF THE WORLD.
We also work with advertising providers to deliver relevant sponsored content using programmatic technologies. To support this, we may share limited, non-identifying information — such as device type, IP-derived location information, and category of content viewed — to help determine which ads to display. We don’t share any information that identifies you. You can turn off sponsored content in your New Tab settings at any time.Oh it's so nice of you Mozilla, to do THE MINIMUM LEGAL REQUIREMENTS when selling our data. You don't share information that identify me? so nice of you! you know how else does that? Meta! Google! Tiktok! Somehow big tech mega corporations are willing to comply with the minimum legal requirements as you do, mozilla!In some cases, we may share or publish aggregated and anonymized data to facilitate research or as part of the lawful business purposes outlined above (such as sharing aggregated insights with advertising partners).This is called "advertisement segmentation" and it's what it paid for Zuckenberg fortress in Hawaii!! Going places, Moz, you are operating exactly as how Facebook used to do in 2016!To provide our services as described above, we may disclose personal data to: Partners, service providers, suppliers and contractors"We never disclose your personal data!!! well, unless it's one of our partners who pays us for it, of course!"

oh wait! they include a table of what kind of data they share with partners!
Technical dataLocationLanguage preferenceSettings dataUnique identifiersSystem performance dataInteraction dataSearch dataBrowsing dataThe SHARE FUCKING EVERYTHING. THEY ARE SELLING EVERYTHING. "Unique identifiers" is the closest to personal identifiable data they can sell. That's what advertisers can use to make a profile of you: They may not know your name, but they will know everything else about you.

This is the same information that google collects and sells from you. THE SAME.

Fucking ghouls. This is where Firefox died, folks.

Firefox Privacy Notice

Mozilla

@javi

my question for things like this is, as always, how much of this is new versus how much of it has been there before and only noticed because the company said there was a terms update and didn't supply a changelog? Because when I look at the wayback machine for their terms of use… the search query stuff has been there since at least 2023. Mozilla's search partners also got data back during that time period, and sponsored content has ABSOLUTELY been there for years.

The search and interaction data, the data sharing to facilitate research/lawful business, disclosing data to contractors, the table showing all that stuff? There in April 2025 at the latest.

Basically, they've been like this for months, if not years, and it's only noticed now because companies don't make comparisons easy.

ok I just checked the same page from last summer. While there was some 'sponsored content based on your habits' stuff already, it looked that it was limited just to the new tab page. For example, the sponsored results in the search suggestions didn't involve segmenting you by your browsing history, while now they do.
they went from this, back in July 2025:
"Mozilla may also receive location-related keywords from your search (such as when you search for “Boston”) and share this with our partners to provide recommended and sponsored content."
To this, March 2026:
"Mozilla processes this data to serve you relevant suggestions, understand how useful the suggestions are to you, and improve the service. In some circumstances Mozilla’s partners will receive de-identified search and interaction data, in order to serve relevant suggestions and measure user engagement with suggested content."

Also, it looks like now they are using 3rd party programmatic ads, while they didn't last summer:

"We also work with advertising providers to deliver relevant sponsored content using programmatic technologies. To support this, we may share limited, non-identifying information — such as device type, IP-derived location information, and category of content viewed — to help determine which ads to display. We don’t share any information that identifies you. You can turn off sponsored content in your New Tab settings at any time."



Programmatic ads are only really profitable when you share as much (anonymized) personal data with the ad exchange as you can. There's no way of making money with programmatic ads that doesn't include selling end-user segmentation data.
@javi @kazara either they are selling the data OR they are selling access to filtered profiles based on data collection (which is also a bad thing)