Mozilla is shutting down Pocket, the popular “read it later” service it acquired in 2017 and subsequently integrated into its Firefox web browser.
Pocket shuts down on July 8, though existing users (and paying subscribers, who Mozilla say will receive refunds) are able to export their saved stories until October 8, 2025.
After that, finito.
“Pocket has helped millions save articles and discover stories worth reading. But the way people save and consume content on the web has evolved, so we’re channeling our resources into projects that better match browsing habits today,” Mozilla say.
Part of the pivot away from Pocket, they say, is to “…focus our efforts on Firefox and building new solutions that give [users] real choice, control and peace of mind online,” with the promise/threat of “more AI-powered features on the way”.
For those loved it, there a number of Pocket alternatives out there, including Instapaper, Raindrop.io, and the open-source, self-hostable Wallabag.
Pocket + New Tab page
Anyone hoping news of demise of Pocket might mean the end of recommend (and sponsored) stories appearing on Firefox’s New Tab page, currently powered by/sourced from popular Pocket saves, will be disappointed.
Mozilla has big plans for Discovery, which given the amount of eyeballs it (and the stories companies pay Mozilla to have inserted amongst them) receive, is understandable.
The Discovery experience “will keep getting better”, they say.
We know from nightly builds it’s been working on an overhaul of the feature, adding “topics” users can follow to only see the kind of stories care about when opening a new tab.
Sidenote: Mozilla recently made it a little harder to disable sponsored links on the New Tab page. The toggles to turn sponsored stories and links off used to be available in the New Tab customisation sidebar, but are now buried in Settings.
Naturally, getting users to signpost their interests may encourage more companies to pay for sponsored stories on the New Tab page, since they will, in effect, be able to slip into into story silos more align with the kind of user they’re targeting.
Fakespot also canned
Pocket isn’t the only casualty of Mozilla’s pivot to generating revenue from ads and AI Firefox and “what powers better browsing”: Fakespot is being killed off too.
“Fake–what?”, most will say upon hearing that.
Fakespot is a rather obscure online tool that uses AI to scan online reviews to assess the likelihood of inauthentic beavhiour, fake reviews, and scams, etc. It then assigns an overall score so users could gauge the (possible) veracity.
Mozilla acquired Fakespot in 2023 and… Didn’t do much of anything with it. Surprise to hear it’s shutting it down because while “the idea resonated, it didn’t fit a model we could sustain”.
Apropos of nothing: a few months back I saw a few things on the Mozilla Bugzilla that pointed to plans to let companies pay to have their products promoted in Fakespot analysis. With ick that like in its future, this is arguably a mercy killing
And the types of “companies” who’d pay Mozilla money to show scammy “Doctor’s enraged people know this simple cure” type junk on the New Tab page wouldn’t be enamoured by Fakespot flagging their dodgy online supplement stores as a scam…
Either way, it’s clear that Mozilla’s recent restructuring and repositioning in pursuit of revenue—likely driven by the mortal threat of losing its Google search deal cash—means we’ll have to get used to the company making more decisions like this.
And in turn, moving further away from its founding principles to make the web better for all of us—not merely better for its bottom line.