alt Hacker News> the ad money kept rolling in
Why "ad money"? That's a very uncharitable interpretation and for anyone not aware of the situation it's misleading. They're not paid for ads or by ads, they're paid by Google to continue being a viable alternative to Chrome. Is every Google employee getting "ad money" every month, or a salary?
The payment is more accurately described as a protection tax.
Replies
sshine • today at 8:00 AM
While the nuance is important, money from Google is ad money:
- Directing people to Google Search means Firefox users get exposed to ads
- The money given to Firefox was made selling ads
- Google is an ad company
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account42 • today at 11:01 AM
> Is every Google employee getting "ad money" every month
Yes. You can think of it like "blood money".
In this particular context there really isn't any difference. Technically Mozilla isn't in the business of delivering ads, but their revenue is mostly supported by ad money from Google, and Google, being an ad giant, can simply cut that stream off. The common sentiment seems to be that this would spell a life and death situation for the company and for the browser as a whole, which essentially makes Firefox a hostage to the whims of an ideologically hostile corporate entity.