Brussels’ DMA regulation handed Firefox millions of new users

Thanks to the Digital Markets Act (DMA), Mozilla has gained more than 6 million new users for its web browser Firefox.

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is an EU regulation designed to make the digital sector fairer and more contestable. The goal of the legislation, which has been in effect since November 2022, is to protect consumers and ensure fair competition.

The DMA names objective criteria for designating large digital platforms, also known as ‘gatekeepers,’ and imposes specific obligations that these gatekeepers must abide by since May 2023.

For example, both Android and iOS users must be presented with the option to choose their favorite web browser. To this end, Google and Apple have introduced the browser selection screen, which appears when a user opens a web browser on their smartphone for the first time.

The DMA legislation has been very favorable for Mozilla. According to the developer, every 10 seconds, someone picks Firefox as their go-to web browser thanks to a mandatory DMA web browser selection screen, adding more than 6 million Firefox selections since March 2024 (when the browser option screen was legally required).

“And people are sticking with us: retention is five times higher when people choose Firefox through a choice screen,” the developer claims.

The findings by the browser maker are supported by independent research. The US National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) compared Firefox usage in the EU with that in 43 countries outside the EU.

According to the researchers, there were significant differences in the number of daily active Firefox users in the 15 months before and after the rollout of the browser choice screen on smartphones. They found that Firefox daily active users were 113% higher in the EU than it would have been without the DMA.

Both Mozilla and the European Commission argue that the DMA’s work isn’t done. Mozilla states there’s room for improvement for desktop users, who don’t have an equivalent web browser selection screen like smartphone users. The developer alleges that Microsoft deceives its users with deceptive design tactics to push its Edge browser.

“Still, the signal is clear: when people get real browser choice, they take it and select alternatives,” Mozilla concludes.

This conclusion is also adopted by the European Commission.

“While improvements that are DMA-driven might not always be identified as such, the DMA continues to quietly deliver on its promises by increasing user choice and creating more opportunities for everyone,” the executive arm of the EU says in a recently published factsheet about the DMA’s efficacy.

Thanks to the European Commission’s enforcement of the DMA, new interoperability and data portability features for developers and providers of connected devices, such as headphones, smartwatches, and smart glasses, will be delivered over the next few weeks and months.

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