Mastodawn

@firefox, the “last privacy-respecting browser” now nags you with in-browser pop-ups to let AI generate “key points” when you long-press links.

Mozilla CEO: “AI should always be a choice – something people can easily turn off”

Then why the fuck is it off by default? Why the fuck am I getting pop-ups asking me to try features I didn’t ask for? That’s not a choice. That’s opt-out with a fucking marketing budget.

What the fuck happened to you, Mozilla.

They spent WEEKS in damage control promising an "AI kill switch" and then shipped it fucking disabled. That is the most gaslit UX I have ever seen in my life.

"Help me @librewolf - you're my only hope."

Settings > AI Controls > Block AI enhancements. Do it now, because they won't do it for you.

—

Edit: a few corrections thanks to @Feyd:

“Hover over links”

It’s a long-press / context menu action, not a passive hover. That’s a meaningful distinction because hover implies it’s happening constantly without intent, which is way more invasive than what’s actually happening.

“Sending page content to ML models”

the default link preview (before you enable key points) just reads the Open Graph meta tags – the same og:title / og:description metadata that generates link cards in Slack, Discord, iMessage, etc. That’s not AI, that’s just HTML parsing.
even when you DO opt into the AI key points feature, it runs a local on-device model, not shipping your page content off to some cloud endpoint.

#Firefox #Mozilla #AI #InfoSec #Privacy #Fediverse #OpenWeb

k3ym𖺀 2d ago

@firefox @librewolf OH MY GOD.

The Firefox mastodon account automatically boosts your post when you tag them.

lmaooooo

AlexTECPlayz 2d ago

@k3ym0 that's a whole lemmy community (Fediverse alternative to a subreddit), not the official Firefox account.

Mozilla shut down their mozilla.social instance, there is no official Firefox account on Mastodon anymore, besides their Firefox Nightly account.

Jason Bowen 🇺🇦2d ago

@alextecplayz @k3ym0
I'm just going to go dig a hole to sit in for a few decades

k3ym𖺀 2d ago

@jbowen @alextecplayz if i bring a shovel and snacks can i join you?

AlexTECPlayz 2d ago

@jbowen @k3ym0 I think we all want to do the same. Or run in the woods, or become a goat farmer, etc... 🫠

And this applies to almost every subject in tech these days...

D.Hamlin.Music 2d ago

@alextecplayz @jbowen @k3ym0 I found a listing earlier for a mini PC with an Intel N95, 8GB Lpddr4, and a soldered 256GB SSD, for over $300… not quite a year ago I paid $390 for one with a Ryzen 6900hx, 24GB DDR5, and a 1TB SSD (not soldered).

k3ym𖺀 2d ago

@alextecplayz good to know - thanks

AlexTECPlayz 2d ago

@k3ym0 no worries, I was a little confused too with some lemmy accounts boosting stuff.

Andrew Drake 2d ago

@k3ym0 @firefox @librewolf that account isn't affiliated with Mozilla at all. They used to operate an official account on their own mozilla.social instance, but shut that down and as far as I'm aware they aren't on the fediverse at all anymore (their website links to a bluesky and a few other social platforms, but no fediverse).

Deleted by author

Andrew Drake 2d ago

@cabbage to anyone not using Lemmy, there is absolutely no indication besides the instance hostname that it is anything other than a normal (bot-run) account, because that's how Lemmy federates it. It has a profile and everything!

Blisterexe 2d ago

It’s not the mastodon account, it’s the lemmy community for firefox. On mastodon it appears as an account that auto-reposts any post it’s tagged in, but on our end it just looks like a reddit community.

@k3ym0 This image displays a settings panel titled "AI Controls" set against a dark grey background. A purple banner at the top features a cartoon illustration of the orange Firefox fox surrounded by sparkles and reads, "You always have a choice in Firefox, including whether to use features enhanced with AI. More controls coming soon. Learn more". Below the banner is a rectangular card with the heading "Block AI enhancements" and a grey toggle switch set to the off position. The text below the heading states, "Blocking means you won't see new or current AI enhancements in Firefox, or pop-ups about them. Get more details about what's included and how to control traditional machine learning features, like search suggestions and recommendations."

Provided by @altbot, generated privately and locally using Qwen3.5:9b

🌱 Energy used: 2.071 Wh

Jason Bowen 🇺🇦2d ago

@k3ym0 @firefox @librewolf
Also this outlines what happened to them: https://goblin.band/notes/ak9wrlzwgqsvbj9y

@javi

<p>I didn't realize the facebook execs Mozilla acqui-hired last year have been promoted! I was assuming they were still just heading the ads division of Mozilla, but oh boy, I fucking wish.</p><p>Now the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/leadership/#graham-mudd">former Senior VP of Marketing</a> of facebook (2008-2022, the finest years of facebook) is the CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER of the entire Mozilla.</p><p>And the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/leadership/#graham-mudd">former VP of Ads</a> in Facebook (2012-2022), is now the Senior VP of Product of Mozilla.</p><p>Let me repeat this:</p><p>The guy who used to lead the facebook team that was literally "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/meta-allegedly-targeted-ads-at-teens-based-on-their-emotional-state/">advertising to teenagers based on their emotional state</a>" is now the guy who decides the direction of Firefox as a product. But hey, let's keep giving Mozilla the benefit of the doubt uh? I'm sure these people-who-should-be-on-trial-in-the-hague are going to do great things for the community!</p>

goblin.band

k3ym𖺀 2d ago

@jbowen @firefox @librewolf jesus....

k3ym𖺀 2d ago

@jbowen @firefox @librewolf this honestly makes me so sad inside. i think i developed somewhat of an emotional connection with mozilla over the years, clinging to them as the one last shining light amidst the vast sea of enshittification.

feelsbad.jpg

TheTechnician27 2d ago

That is the most gaslit UX I have ever seen in my life.

That is the most obnoxiously incorrect therapy speak usage of “gaslit/gaslighting” I have ever seen in my life.

k3ym𖺀 2d ago

@TheTechnician27 you're technically making a point about language inflation, but you picked maybe the worst possible example to die on that hill because "we said it's opt-in but it's actually opt-out" is genuinely closer to gaslighting than 95% of the times people use that word online.

TheTechnician27 2d ago

ahem

tap mic

align notes

adjust glasses

Lying is not the same thing as gaslighting, you colossal fuckmuppet.

if you’re going to correct someone else’s imperfect English, and then call names, at least read their comment and don’t accuse them of something they already conceded:

@[email protected] said they were closer, not that they were right.

TheTechnician27 2d ago

if you’re going to correct someone else’s imperfect English

It’s not about “imperfect English”; it’s about lazily, selfishly abusing real therapy terms in places they don’t apply in a way that strips away crucial language from victims of abuse and genercizes it to absolute meaninglessness. I’m not going to argue the truth or merits of “closer” when they’re a fucking million miles away from what the word means; you’re upset with me for not playing into their fallacious relative privation bullshit, and I categorically don’t care.

k3ym𖺀 2d ago

@TheTechnician27 “colossal fuckmuppet” is doing a LOT of heavy lifting for someone claiming the moral high ground on precise language usage.

TheTechnician27 2d ago

Oh, no, this follow-up comment reinforces that I got it exactly right.

if you’re going to play grammar Nazi with someone else’s imperfect English, at least exhibit some basic literacy yourself and read what they said.

@[email protected] said they were closer, not that they were right.

TheTechnician27 2d ago

Did you ditch your original comment because:

You didn’t realize you could edit?
You were somehow unable to edit?
You accidentally deleted your comment and didn’t realize you can undelete?
You wanted to ditch your negative upvote count and move to greener pastures?

I’m legitimately confused at what happened here; this is ostensibly the exact same comment I already replied to except that I don’t think you invoked “grammar Nazi” before. (Ironically: learn what the fuck a “grammar Nazi” is before accusing someone of being one.)

Grammar Nazi - Wikipedia

Syndication 2d ago

Just saw this a couple posts above this one lol

I agree with not wanting link previews, but there is some misinformation here:

when you hover over links

It is a 1 second hold or a context menu option.

is sending page content to ML models

Unless you’ve specifically enabled the key points feature, it just shows the open graph tag content (ogp.me). This is also what is used to display a card when you put a link in a chat app.

If you do enable the key points feature, it is not sending page content over the network like you imply.

It uses a local model and it doesn’t even download that model until the first time you ask for the key points.

I encourage you to keep complaining about things you would like you be different, but you should really keep your complaints factual, because you weaken your points when you mix them with misinformation.

support.mozilla.org/…/use-link-previews-firefox

Open Graph protocol

The Open Graph protocol enables any web page to become a rich object in a social graph.

k3ym𖺀 2d ago

@Feyd Fair corrections, thank you. The hover thing was sloppy on my part -- it's a long-press/context menu, not passive. And the key points feature does run a local model, not cloud inference. I'll edit the post.

The default-on nag UX is still bullshit but you're right that mixing valid complaints with inaccurate claims just gives people a reason to dismiss the whole thing.

What nag are you talking about?

I haven’t seen any sort of nag that occurs before activating a link preview

After activating a link preview there is a cog button that takes you directly to the settings where you can disable link previews entirely, in case you used it by accident or tried and decided you didn’t like it.

The key points part of the UI has a toggle to hide it, and it stays hidden for every subsequent link preview, even through restarts of the browser.

@k3ym0 @firefox @librewolf Loving how Waterfox and Librewolf strip this garbage out with prejudice.

renegadespork 2d ago

They spent WEEKS in damage control promising an “AI kill switch” and then shipped it fucking disabled. That is the most gaslit UX I have ever seen in my life.

Okay, so I hate these features too, but the “Block AI enhancements” switch does work exactly as advertised. Should it be disabled by default? IMO yes, but this is not “gaslighting”. Its existence is honestly the only thing keeping me from dropping Firefox entirely.

I get that devs want people to discover and use the features they’re worked on, but I don’t understand how Mozilla can be so willfully ignorant of what their user-base wants. It’s not like we’re quiet about it.

roofuskit 2d ago

after the update it literally pops up and tells you its part of the program now and gives you the option to turn it on before doing anything else.

Some people just want to be angry.

SacredHeartAttack 2d ago

They really want us to change browsers, don’t they?

Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.2d ago

@k3ym0 @firefox @librewolf I'm still on 140.7.0esr and I don't have that option. Does anyone know what version I need to look out for so I can disable?

Chad McCullough 2d ago

@BoydStephenSmithJr @k3ym0 @firefox @librewolf 148.0 and above have the AI "kill switch".

The ESR release is one version too early for the killswitch? That’s rough. Upgrade to Stable and enjoy the killswitch… Along with an in-app “VPN” and a bunch of other random things

@k3ym0 @firefox @librewolf Sadly, there's a reason that I'm still ignoring the prompt to upgrade FF to dogshit mode. The sad part is that I'm having difficulty accepting what I know to be true--it's over. 😞

ArchiveScribe 2d ago

@k3ym0 @firefox @librewolf Firefox is controlled by a corporation, a for-profit corporation that has depended on the largesse of a monopolistic company for the past 2 decades for over 80% of its funds. And instead of using that money to create a better browser, it has spent it trying to monetize itself at your expense—thus “privacy-enhancing advertising”/telemetry & now opt-out AI. It’s sad. I still use Firefox, but it’s getting tiring. Librewolf is a great option.

blackknight95857669 2d ago

@k3ym0
I'm on Waterfox myself, have been for about a year. Librewolf before that for prob also a year. Swapped when Mozilla put out the survey that said "how would you like us to use AI" instead of "would you like us to use AI" cause I knew at that moment this shit was gonna happen.

I keep recalling the line Sam L says to DeNiro in Jackie Brown after he shoots him. "What happened to you, man? You used to be beautiful."

grainfed 2d ago

Thank you very much. I have version 149.0. I paid no attention, assuming any AI features would be disabled by default. Could this explain why the FF startup has been very slow lately, it has three tabs open always on shutdown and startup, which is my habit.

No. They are not disabled by default, but none of them run in the background. You would know if you were using them.

@k3ym0 @firefox @librewolf @Feyd I wrote this up a while back: https://www.quippd.com/writing/2026/01/06/architecting-consent-for-ai-deceptive-patterns-in-firefox-link-previews.html

Really terrible stuff.

Architecting Consent for AI: Deceptive Patterns in Firefox Link Previews

TL;DR: Mozilla has a new CEO and a new mission: transform Firefox into an AI browser. That has run into some snags, as Firefox users don’t seem that interested in AI. Mozilla is forging ahead, utilizing deceptive patterns (previously known as dark patterns) to nag and annoy people into enabling AI features. You can see this in the introduction of Link Previews, an extremely invasive anti-feature that exists solely to push AI into your experience.

Youssuff Quips

Jochen Wolters 2d ago

@k3ym0 @firefox @librewolf @Feyd Have you taken @kagihq's Orion browser for a spin? Might be another alternative to the usual suspects (ha!) besides @LibreWolf. Maybe these folks should create a shared standard for how to properly behave as a #privacy-oriented browser, and establish that as a badge of sorts… 🧐

k3ym𖺀 2d ago

@jochenwolters @firefox @librewolf @Feyd @kagihq @LibreWolf I have actually! I would use it as my daily driver if it didn’t break a bunch of stuff for my work :(

Jochen Wolters 2d ago

@k3ym0 @firefox @librewolf @Feyd @kagihq @LibreWolf Yeah, I've noticed that issue too. In some cases, unchecking the Enable Content Blockers option would fix things. Matter of fact, I've had entirely empty webpages, not loading a single thing. Unchecked that box, and BOOM! the site would load fine.

Talk about truly messed up web coding approaches these days. 🙄

Bodhi 心 2d ago

@k3ym0 I am grateful to learn about @librewolf from this post, thank you

modrobert 2d ago

@k3ym0 @firefox @librewolf @Feyd

Great feature of LibreWolf:

"In December 2025, the developers stated that they will not support features related to generative AI, and will remove those already present in Firefox."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LibreWolf#Features

LibreWolf - Wikipedia

Are you implying that the “generate key points” thingy is not privacy-respecting? If so, in what way is it not?