Technology

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[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Nah its just the default search engine and you can still change the default, thus not cutting off distribution of other engines.

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[–] otter@lemmy.ca 24 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

I think they're referring to Firefox's funding, a lot of which was through search deals

An article from 5 years ago: https://www.pcmag.com/news/mozilla-signs-lucrative-3-year-google-search-deal-for-firefox

edit: seems like that hasn't changed by this ruling either

United States District Judge Amit Mehta has ruled that Google can continue to pay other companies, including browser makers like Mozilla, to be their default search engine.

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2025/09/google-antitrust-ruling-firefox-search-deal

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[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

From the article you linked:

In return for Google being the default search engine in Firefox, Mozilla is expected to bank $400M+ a year.

Literally what I am talking about. I can still switch away from the default. No other search companies are being denied access to being set as the default search engine in Firefox. Google just pays a premium so they are the default out of the box, which would not be anti-competitive under this order.

bar the search giant from making exclusive deals to distribute its search or AI assistant products in ways that might cut off distribution for rivals.

This by definition does not cut off their distribution in Firefox. Google can still make this deal with Mozilla. It is not an exclusivity deal, it's a default search engine deal. Exclusivity or cutting off distribution would be making Google the only search engine option in Firefox.

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[–] otter@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2025/09/google-antitrust-ruling-firefox-search-deal

United States District Judge Amit Mehta has ruled that Google can continue to pay other companies, including browser makers like Mozilla, to be their default search engine.

I see, I'll edit my other comment. So what even changes then, were they even making exclusive deals in the past? The discussion I remember was about how being the default made it difficult for others to compete since most people don't change the defaults.