Mozilla Firefox Ad-free News Subscription Service for $5: Mozilla, the maker of Open Source browser Firefox, is teasing an ad-free news subscription services for $5 per month, offering ad-free browsing, audio readouts and cross-platform syncing of news articles from multiple websites. For now, the Mozilla company is just running a survey that seems to be gauging interest and it remains unclear by when the service would be launched. Previously, Mozilla had mentioned its plans of bringing a partnership-based subscription service with a news subscription start-up called Scroll, The Verge reported on Friday.
It said that Mozilla had previously “announced an upcoming collaboration with Scroll aimed at finding a way to help fund news outlets. The organization appears ready to finally launch to the service, sending users a survey, along with invites to an upcoming beta launch of what it calls ‘Firefox Ad-free Internet.’” According to the report, the “service is one of countless third-party platforms aimed at helping ailing publications find the way to better monetize in an era of defunding when journalistic voices are more important than ever.
The scroll is still in beta and has not yet opened sign-ups, but the company claims to offer ad-free access to a variety of websites including BuzzFeed, Slate, Gizmodo Media Group properties and Vox Media sites. In June, a top Mozilla executive revealed that the company intended to start offering subscription services inside of Firefox this October. The company has already been testing the Virtual Private Network (VPN) service since 2018. Apple News offering is probably the most notable in the category, but Mozilla’s offering provides an interesting alternative to a standalone app.”
