Firefox v83 showing Sponsored Top Sites to some users

Mozilla recently rolled out Firefox v83 with lots of useful features. There’s something that you might not have found in the changelogs of the latest version. Mozilla is now showing Sponsored Top Sites to some users.

Multiple reports are coming from users that after updating to Firefox v83 they’re seeing sponsored links tiles in the Top Sites area available on the New Tab Page. All sponsored links are marked as ‘Sponsored’ instead of the page name. You can check the following screenshot for a clear idea:

In case, you’re not seeing Sponsored Tiles in New Tab Page, then it’s because Mozilla is testing this with a small group of users before ejecting sponsored ads to all users.

According to Firefox Support page:

Sponsored Top Sites (or “sponsored tiles”) is an experimental feature currently being tested by a small percentage of Firefox users in a limited number of markets. Mozilla works with advertising partners to place sponsored tiles on the Firefox home page (or New Tab) that would be useful to Firefox users. Mozilla is paid when users click on sponsored tiles.

As of writing this blog post, Mozilla’s only ad partner is adMarketplace. You should also know that every time you click Sponsored tiles the browser will send anonymized technical data to their partner via Mozilla-owned proxy service.

To Disable Sponsored Top Sites in Mozilla Firefox

No one like advertisement and if you’re already seeing Sponsored tiles in Firefox browser, then the good news is that users can quickly disable Sponsored tiles. Here’s how you can do that:

Permanently Disable Sponsored Tile

Click on the Menu button and select Options.

On the left select Home and then on the right side head over to the Firefox Home content section.

In the Top Sites section, uncheck box for Sponsored Top Sites.

Disable Specific Sponsored Tile

Hover the cursor on the Sponsored tiles until you start seeing the Open menu (…) icon, click on it and select Dismiss.

These types of advertisements are very common among web browsers. This way, the companies make money whenever users click on the ads.

What are your thoughts about Mozilla introducing Sponsored Top Sites in the Firefox browser? Are you happy with this? Let us know your opinion in the comments.

Thanks to msftnext and winaero