Firefox will soon show users ads in new tabs
Free browsers sound nice, but at the end of the day, something's got to pay the bills.
Mozilla announced last week that its Firefox browser would begin featuring ads, in what Pocket founder and CEO Nate Weiner referred to in a blog post as "a privacy-conscious approach to sponsored content." Today, those ads have begun rolling out in the browser's beta and nightly builds, The Register reports.
Mozilla acquired read-it-later application Pocket last year. The service now populates new Firefox tabs with reading suggestions.
Soon, however, in addition to your morning news, you'll start seeing sponsored links among Pocket's suggestions.
Despite the current controversy surrounding online ad sales, it seems that when it comes to Mozilla, your data are safe for the moment.
Mozilla claims that the recommendations will be personalized based on your browsing history, but that "neither Mozilla nor Pocket receives a copy of your browser history. The entire process of sorting and filtering which stories you should see happens locally in your copy of Firefox."
And don't worry: If you adamantly prefer ad-free tabs, you can also elect not to see sponsored content. Just go to the New Tab Preferences icon at the top right corner of your new tab, and uncheck "Show Sponsored Stories."
The feature will roll out with Firefox 60, which is due May 9.
Topics Cybersecurity
Monica wrote for Mashable's Tech section with a focus on retail, internet of things, and the intersections of technology and social justice. She holds a degree in creative writing from Brown University, and has previously written for Dow Jones Media, the New York Post, Yahoo Finance, and others. In her free time, she can be found attempting to cook Asian food, buying board games, and looking for new hobbies.
