You’re right but Chromium still belongs to Google and they can change it whenever the want, and do anything to it. For example, if Google, say, removes a feature from Chromium or a line of code in it, this change will not be limited to just Chrome but also other Chromium browsers like Brave, Vivaldi, etc. including FOSS ones like Cromite. And the second reason to avoid Chromium is so as to not let them become a monopoly in this as well. If they control this market too, that’s a win for them.
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Cake day: January 18th, 2026
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My thoughts on Vivaldi:
It’s a decent browser however I’d recommend avoiding Chromium wherever if possible. But the biggest downside of Vivaldi for me is that it’s not fully open-source. I would almost always prefer open-source software rather than closed-source even if the parent company or developer is trusted. I would not recommend Vivaldi because of this reason.
My thoughts on Qwant:
Again, the same thing here, it is trusted but it’s still not open-source so it’s a no from me.
What I’d suggest:
• Firefox-based browsers:
All of these suggestions will contain ONLY free and open source softwares.
I would suggest you to use one of these or other Firefox forks instead of chromium browsers but, ultimately, it’s upto you what you choose.
All of these Firefox forks remove the telemetry that you’ll find in the original Firefox browser.
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IronFox: Privacy-wise, it’s pretty strong. The only counterpoint I’ve noticed is that the sites may break sometimes because of its aggressive anti-fingerprinting and stuff. This is available for Android.
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Fennec: This is the one I use and I’ve found it pretty nice. I’ve been using it for about 4-5 months now. This is available for Android.
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LibreWolf: This is what I think is the best for desktop. It is very good for privacy. This is available for Windows, Linux, and MacOS.
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Zen Browser: This browser has a nice balance between privacy and convenience. Pretty customizable, plus I like the UI of it. This is available for Windows, Linux, and MacOS.
Note: I haven’t tried these but they’re reputed and famous in similar private-focused communities.
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Mullvad Browser: The privacy is strong but it is not very customizable. This is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS.
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Waterfox: This is a famous and reputed browser too. This is available for Android, Windows, Linux, and MacOS.
• Search Engine:
All these suggestions are also FOSS and can be self-hosted.
- SearXNG. It’s the most popular right now and it’s completely FOSS.
Note: I haven’t tried the following these, as well, but they’re also pretty famous and respected in privacy-related spaces.
I’ve presented my suggestions but you should choice the one that suits you the best while also providing you with sufficient privacy and always avoid closed-source softwares even if the parent company or developer is trusted.
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I second this. Always try to avoid Chromium if possible.
You can at least try to minimize the information that they squeeze out of you. It’s either that you can give least amount of information such as just device you use, or whether you use Google or not, etc. or you could let them know every single detail in your life, everything you do, everywhere you go, even everything you think. That’s what this community is about. It’s not about being an alien to the world but minimizing the invasion of our privacy as much as is possible.
And many people do actually boycott everything, they quit all electronic devices and live the old school way, away from highly urbanized or metropolitan areas. If that’s what you want, be a hermit like them.
10·4 days agoThis is such a stupid law. A lot of things require encryption, even the government itself need end-to-end encryption. Are they going to ban Signal and Briar next?
These laws are made by people who have the slightest knowledge about the subjects they’re making the laws on. Oppressing the people is their only concern, everything is else anti-nationalist activity.
This is the first biggest step towards a totalitarian society: cut all (end-to-end encrypted and private) communications across citizens. I hope the people there realise this and protest against this law or something. U.K. is literally becoming Oceania.
That’s what the governments in 1984 could do as well.
What you want would not be possible for Instagram. The best thing to do would be to not use Instagram but if that’s not an option, the most that you can do is use Nora (FOSS) for Instagram and other social media.
Exactly. People who aren’t as tech savvy would think something’s wrong because they think companies won’t lie to them/they’d think they have no other way and they would have to opt back in.
There isn’t any explanation about what the user can do on that banner. It’s just “accept it or we’ll annoy you and make it very inconvenient to use the service.” And most people would hit ‘accept’.
Privacy keeps worsening day by day now. 2026 feels just as privacy-centered as 1984 nowadays.
These banners are so big as to obscure the majority of the content on the site.
They’re designed that way intentionally so that it becomes too annoying and it forces us to opt back in for the sake of convenience for using the service.
If that shit ever pops up in any of my devices, I’m not gonna use that website ever. These corporate tricks are just disgusting.
Yes, it works for Android
One more disgusting tactic of those corporations! You can access these websites on Firefox by using an add-on Chrome Mask which would make websites think you’re using Chrome, not Firefox.