The Mozilla Foundation is making some big structural changes. The non-profit branch of the organization best known for the browser Firefox has laid off 30% of its staff and is completely eliminating its advocacy arm. The Mozilla Foundation exists to increase recognition of the Internet as a critical public resource and manage Mozilla’s corporate governance structure.
This change has understandably sparked concerns that its influence and impact may be diminished moving into the future.
The loss of the advocacy division
The main aim of the advocacy division was to protect a free and open World Wide Web. According to the web page:
“Mozilla’s advocacy work brings people together from around the world to educate and fight for privacy, inclusion, literacy, and all principles of a healthy internet.”
The advocacy division played a key role in pointing out harmful tech practices and holding companies behind them accountable, releasing myriad studies and reports that kept the general Internet public educated and informed. Many believe the division is essential for maintaining the principles laid out in Mozilla’s Manifesto.
In an email to TechCrunch, Mozilla Foundation’s communications chief, Brandon Borrman explained the changes:
“The Mozilla Foundation is reorganizing teams to increase agility and impact as we accelerate our work to ensure a more open and equitable technical future for us all. That unfortunately means ending some of the work we have historically pursued and eliminating associated roles to bring more focus going forward.”
Not the first big change this year
Mozilla has been making big structural changes to the organization since the appointment of Interim CEO Laura Chambers in February this year. These changes include scaling back investment in products like its VPN, Relay and Online Footprint Scrubber, as well as its mozilla.social Mastodon instance. It also included the layoff of about 60 employees and a move to incorporate trustworthy AI into the Firefox browser.
TechCrunch mused that this overhaul seems to be a bid to move away from expanding its product portfolio as it has in recent years and refocus on its flagship Firefox browser.
Cora is a digital copywriter for SSLs.com. Having eight years of experience in online content creation, she is a versatile writer with an interest in a wide variety of topics, ranging from technology to marketing.