Mozilla has responded to criticism over the updated Terms of Use for its Firefox browser, which some users claim include overly broad language suggesting the company has rights to any data inputted or uploaded.
Mozilla clarified that the new terms don’t reflect changes to its data practices but are aimed at formalizing its relationship with users and providing transparency about what they agree to when using Firefox.
On Wednesday, Mozilla rolled out the revised Terms of Use and an updated Privacy Notice for Firefox. The company stated the updates were intended to give users a clearer understanding of their rights and permissions while providing a detailed explanation of its data practices.
“We tried to make these easy to read and understand — there shouldn’t be any surprises in how we operate or how our product works,” the company wrote on a blog post.
Despite these efforts, confusion arose. The company later updated its blog post to clarify that the terms do not grant Mozilla ownership of user data or rights to use it beyond what is outlined in the Privacy Notice.
A particular line in the updated terms caught attention: “When you upload or input information through Firefox, you hereby grant us a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use that information to help you navigate, experience, and interact with online content as you indicate with your use of Firefox.” Critics pointed out that this language seemed overly vague and far-reaching.
Mozilla Explains New Policy
Brendan Eich, the CEO of Brave Software, a competing browser company, shared his reaction on X, writing, “W T F” in response to Mozilla’s terms. Eich speculated that the wording might be related to Firefox’s potential shift toward monetizing user data for purposes like AI development.
When asked by TechCrunch if the updated terms suggest that user data is shared with AI companies or advertisers, Mozilla reiterated that its Privacy Notice governs data use, even in AI features. The company emphasized that user content data is neither sent to Mozilla nor shared externally. It added that advertiser-shared data is anonymized.
“These changes are not being made to allow Mozilla to use people’s data for AI or sell it to advertisers,” said Brandon Borrman, Mozilla’s VP of Communications, in a statement to TechCrunch. “The Terms of Use simply ask for permission to use the data users provide to operate Firefox as described in the Privacy Notice.”
According to the Privacy Notice, Firefox collects technical and interaction data on AI chatbot usage. Mozilla explained that if users opt to use third-party AI chatbots within Firefox, the data is handled according to the third party’s policies. Other AI features within Firefox run locally on users’ devices and do not send content data to Mozilla or external servers.
Firefox’s global availability
Regarding advertising, Mozilla highlighted that it does sell ads on Firefox, such as those featured on the New Tab page, to help fund the browser’s development. The company explained that the data collected for advertising is shared in aggregated or anonymized forms, as outlined in the Privacy Notice. Users can disable data collection for advertising by turning off the “technical and interaction data” setting on desktop or mobile.
Mozilla also explained the reasoning behind specific terms in its policy. The term “nonexclusive” was used to indicate that users retain the ability to use their data as they wish. “Royalty-free” means neither Mozilla nor users owe money for handling data to provide the browser. The term “worldwide” reflects Firefox’s global availability and support for worldwide internet access.
Though Mozilla insists the changes don’t alter how user data is handled, some remain sceptical of the broad language used in the terms. This scepticism could push users to consider other browsers, which may further impact Firefox’s market share. Currently, Firefox holds just 2.54% of the global browser market, trailing behind Chrome (67%), Safari (17.95%), and Edge (5.2%).
