

Is Mozilla being forced to buy Adwords to protect their users from malware? - anon1385

For a while I&#x27;ve been moaning about the fact that paid results on Google search for terms like &quot;firefox&quot; or &quot;download firefox&quot; lead to dodgy download sites with versions of Firefox full of malware[0].<p>After reading a comment mentioning the issue again today[1] I did a few searches to see if anything had changed. I was surprised to find that the ads that show up for the search term &quot;firefox&quot; are links to Mozilla&#x27;s own site: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;i.imgur.com&#x2F;F9Ct4Tf.png although sometimes the malware ads still show up as well: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;i.imgur.com&#x2F;oRpU5Mq.png<p>It appears that Mozilla, faced with a situation where many users were unable to install Firefox safely without getting malware, have decided to outbid the malware ads themselves, to try and ensure that their users get a clean download. The real Mozilla link is always the top organic result, so I can&#x27;t see what other reason they would have to start bidding on expensive Adwords  keywords.<p>Do Mozilla folk here know if the decision to start buying Google ads was discussed publicly? Is this a new policy? How much are they having to pay for this? Have they asked Google to take down the malware ads?<p>I find it hard to see this as anything other than extortion by Google: &quot;pay us or your users get infected&quot;.<p>[0] e.g. https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=8879229 and https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=7335401 and https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=7971201<p>Screenshots: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;i.imgur.com&#x2F;Ote9c2k.png https:&#x2F;&#x2F;i.imgur.com&#x2F;lzKU3FO.png and an older screenshot from back when the ads were more clearly marked: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;i.imgur.com&#x2F;jX5Lt9F.png<p>[1] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=9193250
======
wodenokoto
I used to subscribe to planet Mozilla. I remember blog posts talking about
user convertion of paid advertisement on Google and they concluded it was a
good deal. Other blog posts have discussed lawsuits in Germany against Firefox
impersonators.

It is not a new policy.

When reading planet Mozilla I rarely notice who writes what and it's been a
long time since I subscribed anyway, so I can't get you source, but those are
my 5 cents for what it is worth.

------
mattl
Mozilla's EULA also prevents commercial distribution of Firefox binaries,
which seems a little unusual to me.

~~~
dothawk
This is not really surprising to me. Have you seen Chrome? It's being bundled
with heaps of malware for profit (PPI garbage).

