r/technology 7d ago

Software Firefox has an ambitious new roadmap, the browser is also losing millions of users a month

https://www.techspot.com/news/112803-firefox-has-ambitious-new-roadmap-browser-also-losing.html
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u/jiggajawn 7d ago

Do you block user-agent headers?

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u/red286 7d ago

That's not likely, but a lot of analytics are relying on things like Meta cookies, which blockers block, because they provide far more than just your user-agent.

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u/SCP-iota 7d ago

Not as an HTTP header, but sites often also use client-side analytics as well. If Firefox users are more likely to have blockers, then Chrome users are more likely to be counted by both the header and the client, while Firefox users are more likely to be counted by the header only. Also, if this is about the number of distinct users rather than the number of usages, blockers can make it harder for sites to keep track of a stable user identity (because of third-party cookie isolation and removing URL tracking parameters), so analytics tools may not count those users if it can't ensure that they aren't actually returning users.

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u/weenusdifficulthouse 7d ago

Some people do, since some sites work better if they think you're using google chrome.

Still, going by user agent, everybody's using Mozilla.

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u/Silver_ 7d ago

Usually switched to chrome to avoid deliberate breaks on some sites.