14 DAY TRIAL // One of the new features that went live in the latest version of Firefox browsers is called Sponsored Top Sites, and it only shows up for a limited number of users.
But before providing you with all the details about this feature, let’s provide some context.
Earlier this year, Mozilla decided to lay off some engineers, explaining the organization had to reorganize in an attempt to generate bigger revenue. The purpose was as clear as possible: the company wanted to focus specifically on the products that bring home the bacon, as sticking with free solutions obviously didn’t work.
“You may recall that we expected to be earning revenue in 2019 and 2020 from new subscription products as well as higher revenue from sources outside of search. This did not happen. Our 2019 plan underestimated how long it would take to build and ship new, revenue-generating product,” Mozilla said at that point in a memo submitted to employees impacted by the layoffs.
While Firefox itself isn’t a cash cow right now, Mozilla is now betting big on other products for the whole thing, including the VPN service the company launched earlier this year in a series of markets. Available with a subscription, Firefox VPN is supposed to allow users to browse the web while remaining completely anonymous.
So the main idea is that Mozilla is always looking into ways to generate revenue, and these new Sponsored Top Sites are part of the recipe.
The Sponsored Top Sites are more like ads that show up on the Firefox home page, and Mozilla says they could actually be useful for its users, probably as they’re typically recommended based on their preferences. So theoretically, Mozilla wants to mix its own benefit with users’, and the company displays sites that we might find useful but which when clicked generates revenue.
“Sponsored Top Sites (or “sponsored tiles”) is an experimental feature currently being tested by a small percentage of Firefox users in a limited number of markets. Mozilla works with advertising partners to place sponsored tiles on the Firefox home page (or New Tab) that would be useful to Firefox users. Mozilla is paid when users click on sponsored tiles,” Mozilla explains.
Worth knowing is that clicking sponsored sites also sends some information to Mozilla’s partners, only that the company guarantees it only includes technical data and everything is anonymized. In other words, the firms that are working with Mozilla can’t figure out who you are, and of course, they won’t access any private or sensitive information.
“When you click on a sponsored tile, Firefox sends anonymized technical data to our partner through a Mozilla-owned proxy service. This data does not include any personally identifying information and is only shared when you click on a Sponsored Top Sites,” Mozilla says.
How to disable the sponsored tiles
While the feature is currently being tested with a limited number of users, Mozilla obviously provides them with an easy way to disable the sponsored top sites.
First and foremost, you can simply delete just one sponsored top site by hovering the tile and clicking the dismiss button that shows up in its dedicated menu.
But at the same time, users can also disable the feature completely by following this path:
Firefox > Options > Home > Top Sites > Sponsored Top Sites
Mozilla hasn’t provided any information as to when it plans to roll out Sponsored Top Sites to all Firefox users, but a new version of the browser is expected in the coming weeks and more details should be shared at that point. For now, if you can’t see the new feature, there’s no way to enable it.