Mozilla's support section has published a warning that some users will encounter a change in the default search engine in the upcoming Firefox 98 release, scheduled for March 8. It is stated that this change will affect users in all countries, but the specific search engines that will be removed have not been disclosed (the code does not define the list, and search engine handlers are loaded as add-ons depending on the country, language, and other parameters). Access to the discussion of the upcoming change is currently only open to Mozilla employees.
The reason for the forced change of the default search engine is cited as the inability to continue supplying handlers for certain search engines due to a lack of formal permission. It is noted that previously proposed search engines in Firefox were given the opportunity to sign a cooperation agreement, and those that did not meet the conditions will be removed. Users will be able to restore their desired search engine, but they will need to install a related separately distributed search plugin or add-on.
It seems that the change is related to revenue-sharing agreements for directing search traffic, which brings in the majority of Mozilla's income. For example, in 2020, the share of Mozilla's revenue from cooperation with search engines amounted to 89%. In the English version of Firefox, Google is offered by default, in the Russian and Turkish versions — Yandex, and in the versions for China — Baidu. The deal with Google for directing search traffic, which brings about $400 million a year, was extended in 2020 until August 2023.
I 2017 havde Mozilla allerede erfaring med at stoppe leveringen af Yahoo som standard søgemaskine på grund af brud på kontraktvilkårene, mens alle ubetalte beløb for hele aftaleperioden blev opretholdt. Fra efteråret 2021 til udgangen af januar 2022 blev et eksperiment gennemført, hvor 1% af Firefox-brugerne blev overført til at bruge Microsoft Bing som standard søgemaskine. Måske er det også denne gang, at en af søgepartnerne ikke længere opfylder Mozillas krav til søgekvalitet og privatliv, og Bing bliver overvejet som en erstatning.
Kilde: opennet.ru
