Loosing the Firefox engine could have extreme consequences. It would mean that every single browser (besides Safari & a handful of very niche ones) would be relying on Chromium. This would give Google huge leverage and allow them to implement sweeping changes that would effect all other browsers. Sure, you could argue that browsers like Brave would try to implement work arounds or omit certain code, but the reality is that Brave heavily relies on Chromium and if Google decides to make huge changes, it would be difficult for Brave to keep up. (Essentially, the Brave team aren’t really backend browser builders, they 98% of that up to Chrome while they modify the UI and add things like Shields.) Other browsers, like Edge, Opera, Vivaldi, ect. who don’t make changes to Google’s updates would be essentially forced to implement whatever Google decided to. Furthermore, that doesn’t even account for if Google decided to change licensing (which could make it impossible for anyone to modify the code). Google has the largest amount of internet traffic than any other company on the planet. With Firefox out of the way, they could simply disallow any non-Chrome clients from connecting to their huge sites. Sure, there are some people who would figure out work arounds and spoof their user-agent, but the vast majority would be forced to switch to Chrome, thus giving Google control over the market. They could then start to kill off the few remaining browsers through any method and likely make them the only browser. (Although government intervention might make it hard for them to do that.)
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