Mozilla Blog
blog.mozilla.org · Company blog · on HN since 2007
Mozilla's official blog, with Firefox announcements, browser policy, privacy positions, and company news.
What HN saysCommenters say it is mostly press releases and less technical, and point to hacks.mozilla.org for technical news, while citing posts on Firefox hardening with Anthropic.
2.2KHN people shared it
1.4Klinked it in comments
2.1Kstories submitted
118Kstory points
3 months agolast shared
2007people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Mozilla – We need more than deplatforming (2021)46 people · 42 points · first shared 2021 · 38 comments on HN
- 2Expanded extension support in Firefox for Android Nightly44 people · 5 points · first shared 2020 · 1 comments on HN
- 3Testing Cliqz in Firefox27 people · 156 points · first shared 2017 · 159 comments on HN
- 4We need more than deplatforming25 people · 109 points · first shared 2021 · 75 comments on HN
- 5FAQ on CEO Resignation23 people · 33 points · first shared 2014 · 5 comments on HN
- 6The Future of Developing Firefox Add-Ons21 people · 15 points · first shared 2015 · 1 comments on HN
- 7Mozilla Acquires Pocket20 people · 1.2K points · first shared 2017 · 445 comments on HN
- 8Manifest v3 in Firefox: Recap and Next Steps19 people · 206 points · first shared 2022 · 168 comments on HN
- 9Manifest v3 Update19 people · 189 points · first shared 2021 · 93 comments on HN
- 10Mozilla acquires privacy-focused ad tech company Anonym19 people · 75 points · first shared 2024 · 37 comments on HN
- 11An update on Mozilla's terms of use for Firefox17 people · 596 points · first shared 2025 · 366 comments on HN
- 12Mitigations landing for new class of timing attack17 people · 483 points · first shared 2018 · 110 comments on HN
- 13Distrusting New WoSign and StartCom Certificates16 people · 141 points · first shared 2016 · 50 comments on HN
- 14AdBlock Plus’s effect on Firefox’s memory usage15 people · 492 points · first shared 2014 · 258 comments on HN
- 15New Search Strategy for Firefox: Promoting Choice and Innovation15 people · 13 points · first shared 2014 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
ronjouch · 2015-11-15
OP here, I discovered this via Planet Mozilla.
If you can't bear the firehose, I don't know of anything close to a "knowledge base (e.g., a wiki)" curating Mozilla news. Maybe you could subscribe to https://hacks.mozilla.org/ and https://blog.mozilla.org/ , but yeah you'll only scratch the surface and e.g. would have missed this post.
callahad · 2014-11-03
I'm likewise pretty surprised that this made it to the top of HN. If you want straightforward, technical announcements, watch https://hacks.mozilla.org/ instead of https://blog.mozilla.org. The latter is predominantly press releases and less-technical announcements.
Not that those things are bad, they're just meant for a different audience.
If you want more moonshot-y stuff, emscripten, asm.js, rust, and servo are all pretty worthy of your attention. :)
SpicyLemonZest · 2026-06-27
Sure! When Mythos was first announced, there was an obvious prediction to make: if what Anthropic says is even remotely true, the participants will start talking over the next few months about how Mythos has been a big deal for them. Then that happened (https://blog.mozilla.org/en/privacy-security/ai-security-zero-day-vuln… https://blog.cloudflare.com/cyber-frontier-models/, https://blogs.cisco.com/cisco-on-cisco/how-cisco-defends-against-ai-th… so I became convinced, although I shouldn't make it sound like I ever found the idea implausible.
I might be un-convinced if someone published a clear technical explanation of what error these companies have all made. The only counterarguments I've seen so far are vague speculation about how bubble dynamics might incentivize them to say it worked great, and to me that's not persuasive.
Asooka · 2026-05-09
Parental controls can set browsers in "child mode" where the browser sends an "I am a child" header to the server and social networks etc. need to honour it. This has existed for twelve years already: https://blog.mozilla.org/netpolicy/2014/07/22/prefersafe-making-online… . It can probably be amended with a more granular set of levels, but that would be the best way forward.
The problem of "parents are negligent" is also solved by existing laws which have fines for parents who are negligent towards their children, and governments absolutely love collecting fines, so all the incentives are properly aligned.
giancarlostoro · 2026-04-01
Another great example is how Claude is helping Mozilla find zero day exploits in Firefox, by the hundreds, and ranging from minor to CVE level, for over a year:
https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/hardening-firefox-anthropic-red-te…
I think the Mozilla example is a good one because its a large codebase, lots of people keep asking "how does it do with a large codebase" well there you go.
acatton · 2026-01-13
> In fact firefox now allows you to preview the link and get key points without ever going to the link[1]
> [1] https://imgur.com/a/3E17Dts
This is generated on device with llama.cpp compiled to webassembly (aka wllama) and running SmolLM2-360M. [1] How is this different from the user clicking on the link? In the end, your local firefox will fetch the link in order to summarize it, the same way you would have followed the link and read through the document in reader mode.
[1] https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/ai/ai-tech/ai-link-previews-firefo…
arantius · 2025-11-14
For Greasemonkey proper (which has always only been a Firefox extension) the big pain point was Mozilla's forced migration to new extension APIs (2015: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2015/08/21/the-future-of-developing-fi… ). This required a major rewrite, taking over a year, and not to add new features but rather just to not bit rot away. Then what felt like right after that, they completely deprecated classic extensions, forcing only web extensions (2017: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2017/02/16/the-road-to-firefox-57-comp… ). This required an even more thorough rewrite again, and made it not difficult but actually impossible to keep all functionality.
Greasemonkey has been stable (not abandoned, but not worked on very much!) since then. No forced MV3 yet in Firefox.
zmmmmm · 2025-11-08
Is it local though?
I'm so confused, they have a whole page that starts with how they run everything on device[0]. But the page ends telling you how great it is that you can choose your AI service which then leads to a page where ... all the options are hosted AI providers and half the page is about you have to read their terms of service and they all invade your privacy[1]. I stupidly enabled Gemini at some point and now there's no obvious way in the UI to disable it. I can only switch to a different hosted service provider.
I searched in settings for AI, model, LLM, nada.
Whatever good things they did here they totally screwed up the comms and UI execution of it.
[0] https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/firefox-ai/ai-browser-features/
[1] https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/ai-chatbot
encom · 2025-07-30
>mentioned absolutely nothing
Yes I did, you didn't read a word of my post.
>Firefox's UI barely changed in over a decade.
Blatantly false. Many such cases. https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/fresh-new-look-for-firefox/
>irrational excuses
You seem irrationally hostile because I offended your favorite browser.
>best example
The best example is probably their design philosophy which seems to mirror that of Gnome which is, we know what's best for you and you will use our software how we envision because we know better. I didn't keep a list of every Firefox annoyance in preparation of having another pointless internet argument one day, but I mentioned the straw that broke the camels back, and I pointed out how Vivaldi gets UI right.
neobrain · 2025-07-23
Also worth noting it's automatically disabled if telemetry ("Send technical and interaction data to Mozilla") is disabled.
Though even without disabling it, PPA is currently in limited rollout and only visible to Mozilla websites in the first place, so it would hardly cause any harm for now.
[1] https://blog.mozilla.org/netpolicy/2024/08/22/ppa-update/
joshuaissac · 2025-07-13
> There was a short period in the switch-over from Fennec (old FF for Android) to Fenix (new FF for Android) when the stable version didn’t support all extensions, but this hasn’t been the case anymore for years now.
They got rid of extensions in August 2020 and brought them back in December 2023.[1] Fenix has lacked full extension support for more than half of its existence since release, and it has been less than two years since extensions were brought back.
1. https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/new-extensions-youll-love-now-avai…
jasonlotito · 2025-07-02
> Firing the CEO was an expression of said free speech.
They didn't fire him. They even tried to get him to stay after he resigned.
https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/faq-on-ceo-resignation/
He made a choice, and to the best of my knowledge, he hasn't corrected the record.
halosghost · 2025-04-15
Given that Firefox now sells your data [0], this move should be seen as nothing less than actively adversarial.
The ship has been sinking for a while; now the crew is trying to light the remaining decks on fire.
All the best,
-HG
[0] https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/firefox/update-on-terms-of-use/
mdp2021 · 2025-03-04
Please, directly skip to the real announcement:
https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/firefox/update-on-terms-of-use/
The actual content:
> [Given that the definition of "selling" in legal terms can be slippery, we must be aware of not falling in cases like the following:] In order to make Firefox commercially viable, there are a number of places where we collect and share some data with our partners, including our optional ads on New Tab and providing sponsored suggestions in the search bar. We set all of this out in our Privacy Notice. Whenever we share data with our partners, we put a lot of work into making sure that the data that we share is stripped of potentially identifying information, or shared only in the aggregate, or is put through our privacy preserving technologies (like OHTTP)
AnonC · 2025-02-28
Seems like Microsoft is just taking whatever Chromium releases and repackages it to show more ads and to make Bing the default search engine. In this case, it's just dropping support for Manifest V2 extensions, such as uBlock Origin, and moving to Manifest V3, which does not support extensions intercepting and blocking requests using blockingWebRequest.
Just three days ago, Mozilla reiterated [1] that Firefox would continue to support Manifest V2 alongside Manifest V3. So if you want a better web experience with uBlock Origin, Firefox is your only choice (or use Firefox forks that support it). While you're at it, note that "uBlock Origin works best on Firefox". [2]
[1]: https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/firefox/firefox-manifest-v3-adblo…
[2]: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-best-on-Fir…
someotherperson · 2025-02-19
> While Firefox remains the core of what we do, we also need to take steps to diversify: investing in privacy-respecting advertising to grow new revenue in the near term; developing trustworthy, open source AI to ensure technical and product relevance in the mid term; and creating online fundraising campaigns that will draw a bigger circle of supporters over the long run
Not focusing on Firefox is what brought it to its state today, so what should Mozilla do? Focus even less on Firefox and instead on ads, AI and begging. Insane.
EDIT: As an aside, it looks like Mozilla's VC fund invested in the funding round[0] of one of the former board members[1] of mozilla.ai which is kinda weird.
[0] https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/credo-ai-series-b--3b7e7c13
[1] https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/introducing-mozilla-ai-investing-i…
csswizardry · 2025-01-09
My guess, as someone who doesn’t know the answer but works closely in this field, is that the potential downside (i.e. privacy/security) was much greater than the actualised benefit (i.e. performance).
Safari (who make a big deal about being privacy-conscious) was the first to introduce cache partitioning, looking into it as far back as 2013[1]; Chrome followed in 2020 and Firefox in 2021[3]. One thing I know, anecdotally, to be a strong motivator among browser vendors is ‘X is doing it, why aren’t we?’
1. https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=110269
2. https://developer.chrome.com/blog/http-cache-partitioning
3. https://blog.mozilla.org/security/2021/01/26/supercookie-protections/
jqpabc123 · 2024-12-27
It's just business --- not politics.
Simply follow the money and it all becomes much clearer.
For over a decade, Mozilla has been a defacto Google subsidiary --- subversively supporting their goals as needed. All the while pretending to be a promoter of a "free" internet but actually achieving little in this regard --- just the way Google wants it.
The final nail in this coffin is the fact that Mozilla is now inexplicably arguing *for* a Google browser monopoly.
https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/internet-policy/google-remedies-br…
It's time to wake up and smell the coffee --- the only thing Mozilla really wants/needs is Google.
csande17 · 2024-10-09
> repeated tests of compiling various software packages reveal that the borrow checker is within the noise performance wise.
Out of curiosity, do you have a source for this? The stuff I remember reading on the topic is from back in 2018 where they managed to get the NLL borrow checker to be not much slower than the old borrow checker (https://blog.mozilla.org/nnethercote/2018/11/06/how-to-speed-up-the-ru… -- but that took a concerted effort, and the borrow checker was overall a large enough contributor to compilation time that it was worth spending a bunch of effort optimizing it.
rogual · 2024-09-15
I had to try this on my favourite piece of internet bullshit, that surreal Mozilla blog post from a few years back that contains the words "there was also a need for our tools to address the whole body experience of what it means to be a person." [1]
Output: "I worked at Nordstrom. Now I'm at Mozilla. Both companies pretend to care. I helped people buy overpriced clothes. Now I'm selling you a browser and calling it 'addressing the whole body experience.' Because apparently, Firefox is now an extension of yourself. Retail therapy, browser therapy - same BS, different day."
Brilliant.
[1] https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/firefox/introducing-new-colorways…
mcpherrinm · 2024-07-23
The browsers, generally, are not onboard with improving OCSP and supporting OCSP stapling. Chrome already doesn't check OCSP at all.
Apple and Firefox are all working on out-of-band revocation information based on CRL data. Presumably Chrome and its family are going to go down that path too, but I'm not sure I've heard commitments from them yet.
Firefox has the best documentation on what's happening: https://blog.mozilla.org/security/2020/01/09/crlite-part-1-all-web-pki…
account42 · 2024-07-16
There is also this "classic": https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/we-need-more-than-deplatforming/
462436347 · 2024-07-06
I don't agree. This is something so basic that there isn't, from a Q&A standpoint, a justification for it ending up broken for 2/3rds of a year, and where the kind of hard-line stance Linus takes against certain kinds of regressions is warranted. Also consider that a lot of users have been unhappy for years with how the foundation is running and spending money (e.g., more and more on things unrelated to FF, like this: https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/introducing-mozilla-ai-investing-i…
specialist · 2024-06-21
What now? I love a good JWZ rant.
Introducing Anonym: Raising the bar for privacy-preserving digital advertising https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/mozilla-anonym-raising-the-bar-for…
Oh.
How Brave of them.
leftcenterright · 2024-05-22
While it is nice to have options, I still think iTerm2 is one of the best terminal emulators for OS X out there. It has also most likely been audited more thoroughly than newer options out there. There was a security audit sponsored by Mozilla in 2019 [1].
1. https://blog.mozilla.org/security/2019/10/09/iterm2-critical-issue-mos…
incomingpain · 2024-04-18
I have not worked for Mozilla but for quite a long time their organization has been on life support. I would never ever consider a job with them. Unless the job was CEO and my goal was to fix their toxicity.
This toxic work environment and political positions of the CEOs are pushing engineers out of their organization. Worse yet this has been ongoing for at least a decade across several CEOs.
>Firefox not really gaining much traction
They are headed toward 0. How unfortunate because I used to love Firefox before they decided to censor their political opponents.
https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/blog/fellow-research-decentralized-w…
https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/we-need-more-than-deplatforming/
My browser is never allowed to choose what content I get to see.
Anthony-G · 2024-02-28
That’s a great list of nice things that are easy to take for granted. While reading it, I couldn’t help but think of the “What have the Romans ever done for us” scene from Monty Python¹.
I didn’t know about Text to Speech (TTS) but personally wouldn’t have much use for it. The other things I didn’t recognise is VR. I’m guessing this refers to Firefox Reality on the Oculus Go VR Headset² (which seems to be no longer available).
¹ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc7HmhrgTuQ
² https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/firefox/firefox-reality-oculus-go…
declan_roberts · 2024-01-23
This is a great update from the Mozilla team! Please continue the hard work.
The only thing missing is a continued commitment to privacy and liberty.
What has changed since the infamous “We Need More Deplatforming (2021)”[1] article by CEO Mitchell Baker? I absolutely can not move past this and I think Mozilla needs to make a strong commitment to our civil rights.
1. https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/we-need-more-than-deplatforming/
GeekyBear · 2023-12-28
One of the headline features for me is the Firefox recommended extensions program, where the extension code (and updated code) is manually vetted for malware and privacy violations.
> Recommended extensions are expected to:
Function extremely well. All Recommended extensions should not only perform as they promise, but do so at an exceptional level. For instance, there may be many ad blockers out there, but not all ad blockers are equally effective. Be safe and secure. Recommended extensions undergo full code review by staff security experts to provide a strong additional security check. Provide a delightful experience. Recommended extensions should embody great design and user experience standards. https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/firefox/firefox-recommended-exten…
gregstoll · 2023-12-28
Many more addons are now available on Android, and any extension can make itself available there (as of this month): https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/new-extensions-youll-love-now-avai…