While the recent ruling against Google may appear beneficial for its competitors, it poses significant risks to some, particularly Mozilla. The US Department of Justice is now pushing for Google to cease its practice of paying to be the default search engine in third-party browsers like Firefox. This could lead to further actions aimed at dismantling Google’s search monopoly, potentially even forcing the sale of the Chrome browser.
Mozilla heavily relies on its agreement with Google, as the Firefox browser accounts for around 90 percent of the Mozilla Foundation’s revenue, with 85 percent of that stemming from Google. Mozilla’s CFO, Eric Muhlheim, has expressed concern that losing this stream of income would necessitate “significant cuts across the company.” Such reductions could adversely affect Firefox’s development, risking its appeal to users and potentially jeopardizing the browser’s existence.
Furthermore, other initiatives by Mozilla, including open-source tools and climate change projects through AI research, could also be endangered. Interestingly, if the ban on Google is imposed, it could ironically bolster Google’s standing. As Muhlheim highlights, Firefox’s Gecko engine is the only browser engine governed by a nonprofit rather than Big Tech.
The demise of Firefox would leave only Google’s Blink and Apple’s WebKit as viable options. In response, Mozilla is engaging with alternative search engine providers, including Microsoft, to explore making Bing the default search engine for Firefox. However, even Microsoft might not match the revenue that Google currently provides.
Previous attempts by Mozilla to alter the default search engine faced strong backlash from the user community, despite users having the ability to change it themselves.