Mozilla has rolled out Firefox 98.0.1 on Monday to remove Russian search engines Yandex and Mail.ru fr om its browser.
“Yandex and Mail.ru have been removed as optional search providers in the drop-down search menu in Firefox,” Mozilla said, without providing any additional information about why such a change has been made.
“If you previously installed a customized version of Firefox with Yandex or Mail.ru, offered through partner distribution channels, this release removes those customizations, including add-ons and default bookmarks. Wh ere applicable, your browser will revert back to default settings, as offered by Mozilla. All other releases of Firefox remain unaffected by the change,” the company noted in the release notes for Firefox 98.0.1.
BleepingComputer reported that Mozilla’s decision to remove search options from users in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Turkey was due to “prevalence of state sponsored content.”
“After careful consideration, we are suspending the use of Yandex Search in Firefox due to credible reports of search results displaying a prevalence of state sponsored content, which is contrary to the principles of Mozilla.
This means for the time being Yandex Search will not be the default search experience (or a default search option) for users in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Turkey. In the meantime we are pointing people to google.com,” a Mozilla spokesperson told BleepingComputer.
While Mozilla did not specify what “state sponsored content” is being shown, it is understood that it is search results pointing to Russian media outlets spreading disinformation about war in Ukraine.
Cybersecurity Help’s statement on the critical situation in Ukraine
On February 24, people in many cities and towns across Ukraine woke up to the sounds of explosions and artillery fire, as the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion of the country. Such actions are unacceptable, political ambitions of any man aren’t worth of blood, tears, and destruction of millions of lives. We give our full support to the Ukrainian people in these hard times. No more war! Слава Україні!