No Google, no Firefox? Firefox may disappear without Google search deal, Mozilla warns

Following a significant antitrust lawsuit in the US targeting Google, worries are rising regarding the possible effects of suggested solutions designed to limit Google’s supremacy in the search engine industry.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) is advocating for a range of comprehensive actions, including a potential mandatory sale of Google’s Chrome browser. In response to these events, Google CEO Sundar Pichai cautioned that breaking down Chrome could essentially eliminate Google Search as we know it. Currently, Mozilla — the entity behind Firefox — has expressed its concern, indicating that it might be forced out of operation if the court enforces all the JoD’s suggested limitations.

“It’s quite terrifying,” stated Mozilla’s Chief Financial Officer Eric Muhlheim during his testimony on Friday, according to The Verge. He noted that Firefox depends significantly on income from its alliance with Google, which compensates to be the default search engine for the browser. This agreement represents about 85 percent of Mozilla’s earnings and approximately 90 percent of the income for its profit-making subsidiary, which aids the larger non-profit Mozilla Foundation.

If this funding were to disappear, Mozilla would need to implement “significant cuts across the company,” according to Muhlheim, including scaling back product engineering efforts for Firefox. He cautioned that these reductions could trigger a “downward spiral,” diminishing the browser’s appeal and potentially resulting in its collapse. Such an outcome would also jeopardise Mozilla’s broader initiatives, including its development of open-source tools and projects focused on leveraging AI to address climate change.

He additionally contended that this situation would only strengthen the market dominance that regulators seek to dismantle. He remarked that Firefox’s foundational Gecko engine is “the sole browser engine owned not by Major Tech but by a nonprofit.” In contrast, the other prominent engines — Google’s Chromium and Apple’s WebKit — are managed by technology giants. He mentioned that Mozilla initially developed Gecko due to worries about Microsoft’s potential to monopolize internet protocols, and its evolution has been vital in maintaining an open and interoperable web.

Although several companies, such as Yahoo, participating in the Google trial have shown interest in purchasing Chrome, Firefox has not done so. Rather, Mozilla is raising concerns about the unforeseen effects of a crackdown that, although aimed at one monopoly, might ultimately suppress one of the few remaining independent competitors in the browser market.