this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2026
44 points (67.2% liked)

Firefox

7086 readers
27 users here now

A community for discussion about Mozilla Firefox.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
lightbeam24@lemmy.world
44
, the “last privacy-respecting browser” now nags you with in-browser pop-ups to let AI generate “key points” when you long-press links. (media.infosec.exchange)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by k3ym0@infosec.exchange to c/firefox@lemmy.world
26 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

@firefox, the “last privacy-respecting browser” now nags you with in-browser pop-ups to let AI generate “key points” when you long-press links.

Mozilla CEO: “AI should always be a choice – something people can easily turn off”

Then why the fuck is it off by default? Why the fuck am I getting pop-ups asking me to try features I didn’t ask for? That’s not a choice. That’s opt-out with a fucking marketing budget.

What the fuck happened to you, Mozilla.

They spent WEEKS in damage control promising an "AI kill switch" and then shipped it fucking disabled. That is the most gaslit UX I have ever seen in my life.

"Help me @librewolf - you're my only hope."

Settings > AI Controls > Block AI enhancements. Do it now, because they won't do it for you.

—

Edit: a few corrections thanks to @Feyd:

“Hover over links”

  • It’s a long-press / context menu action, not a passive hover. That’s a meaningful distinction because hover implies it’s happening constantly without intent, which is way more invasive than what’s actually happening.

“Sending page content to ML models”

  • the default link preview (before you enable key points) just reads the Open Graph meta tags – the same og:title / og:description metadata that generates link cards in Slack, Discord, iMessage, etc. That’s not AI, that’s just HTML parsing.
  • even when you DO opt into the AI key points feature, it runs a local on-device model, not shipping your page content off to some cloud endpoint.

#Firefox #Mozilla #AI #InfoSec #Privacy #Fediverse #OpenWeb

all 28 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] bazcook@mas.to 1 points 3 days ago

@k3ym0 @firefox @librewolf @Feyd - currently using Waterfox, which *appears* to have none of this nonsense attached.

[–] Vincent@feddit.nl 1 points 6 days ago

Are you implying that the "generate key points" thingy is not privacy-respecting? If so, in what way is it not?

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 54 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

That is the most gaslit UX I have ever seen in my life.

That is the most obnoxiously incorrect therapy speak usage of "gaslit/gaslighting" I have ever seen in my life.

[–] Syndication@lemmy.today 26 points 1 week ago

Just saw this a couple posts above this one lol

[–] renegadespork@lemmy.jelliefrontier.net 38 points 1 week ago (1 children)

They spent WEEKS in damage control promising an "AI kill switch" and then shipped it fucking disabled. That is the most gaslit UX I have ever seen in my life.

Okay, so I hate these features too, but the "Block AI enhancements" switch does work exactly as advertised. Should it be disabled by default? IMO yes, but this is not "gaslighting". Its existence is honestly the only thing keeping me from dropping Firefox entirely.

I get that devs want people to discover and use the features they're worked on, but I don't understand how Mozilla can be so willfully ignorant of what their user-base wants. It's not like we're quiet about it.

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago

after the update it literally pops up and tells you its part of the program now and gives you the option to turn it on before doing anything else.

Some people just want to be angry.

[–] Feyd@programming.dev 25 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I agree with not wanting link previews, but there is some misinformation here:

when you hover over links

It is a 1 second hold or a context menu option.

is sending page content to ML models

Unless you've specifically enabled the key points feature, it just shows the open graph tag content (https://ogp.me/). This is also what is used to display a card when you put a link in a chat app.

If you do enable the key points feature, it is not sending page content over the network like you imply.

It uses a local model and it doesn't even download that model until the first time you ask for the key points.

I encourage you to keep complaining about things you would like you be different, but you should really keep your complaints factual, because you weaken your points when you mix them with misinformation.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/use-link-previews-firefox

[–] k3ym0@infosec.exchange -5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

@Feyd Fair corrections, thank you. The hover thing was sloppy on my part -- it's a long-press/context menu, not passive. And the key points feature does run a local model, not cloud inference. I'll edit the post.

The default-on nag UX is still bullshit but you're right that mixing valid complaints with inaccurate claims just gives people a reason to dismiss the whole thing.

[–] Feyd@programming.dev 2 points 6 days ago

What nag are you talking about?

  1. I haven't seen any sort of nag that occurs before activating a link preview
  2. After activating a link preview there is a cog button that takes you directly to the settings where you can disable link previews entirely, in case you used it by accident or tried and decided you didn't like it.
  3. The key points part of the UI has a toggle to hide it, and it stays hidden for every subsequent link preview, even through restarts of the browser.
[–] SacredHeartAttack@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

They really want us to change browsers, don't they?

[–] USBTypeSteve@infosec.exchange 2 points 1 week ago

@k3ym0 @firefox @librewolf Loving how Waterfox and Librewolf strip this garbage out with prejudice.

[–] jbowen@mast.hpc.social 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

@k3ym0 @firefox @librewolf
Also this outlines what happened to them: https://goblin.band/notes/ak9wrlzwgqsvbj9y

[–] k3ym0@infosec.exchange -2 points 1 week ago

@jbowen @firefox @librewolf this honestly makes me so sad inside. i think i developed somewhat of an emotional connection with mozilla over the years, clinging to them as the one last shining light amidst the vast sea of enshittification.

feelsbad.jpg

[–] grainfed@quokk.au 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Thank you very much. I have version 149.0. I paid no attention, assuming any AI features would be disabled by default. Could this explain why the FF startup has been very slow lately, it has three tabs open always on shutdown and startup, which is my habit.

[–] Feyd@programming.dev 1 points 6 days ago

No. They are not disabled by default, but none of them run in the background. You would know if you were using them.

[–] k3ym0@infosec.exchange -2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

@firefox @librewolf OH MY GOD.

The Firefox mastodon account automatically boosts your post when you tag them.

lmaooooo

[–] adrake@sfba.social 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

@k3ym0 @firefox @librewolf that account isn't affiliated with Mozilla at all. They used to operate an official account on their own mozilla.social instance, but shut that down and as far as I'm aware they aren't on the fediverse at all anymore (their website links to a bluesky and a few other social platforms, but no fediverse).

[–] Blisterexe@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 week ago

It's not the mastodon account, it's the lemmy community for firefox. On mastodon it appears as an account that auto-reposts any post it's tagged in, but on our end it just looks like a reddit community.