Firefox now blocks cross-site tracking by default for all users

Mozilla says that all Firefox users will now be protected by default against cross-site tracking while browsing the Internet.

This is because, starting today, Mozilla is rolling out and enabling its Total Cookie Protection set of privacy improvements for all Firefox users worldwide.

Total Cookie Protection forces all websites to keep their cookies in separate "jars," thus blocking attempts to track you across the web and building browsing profiles.

First introduced with the release of Firefox 86 in February 2021, this privacy feature was only active until now in private browsing or when users would manually enable ETP Strict Mode in the web browser's settings.

"Total Cookie Protection offers strong protections against tracking without affecting your browsing experience," said Mozilla today.

"Total Cookie Protection is Firefox's strongest privacy protection to date, confining cookies to the site where they were created, thus preventing tracking companies from using these cookies to track your browsing from site to site."

By creating a separate cookie jar for every website, Firefox will automatically block any attempts to use cookies to track the users while they're browsing the web.

Total Cookie Protection (Mozilla)

Ongoing fight against ad-tech tracking efforts

Today's announcement further highlights Mozilla's ongoing fight against ad tech companies' online tracking efforts that started in 2018 when it first introduced the Enhanced Tracking Protection feature.

One year later, Mozilla toggled on Enhanced Tracking Protection in Firefox by default to automatically block cookies from known trackers.

After the launch of Firefox 72 in January 2020, Mozilla's web browser also started auto-blocking scripts used by fingerprinting companies for browser fingerprinting via cross-site tracking.

In January 2021, starting with version 85, Firefox also comes with supercookie protection which blocks hidden trackers from keeping tabs on your web browsing activity.

With the rollout of Total Cookie Protection, Mozilla now protects more than 211 million monthly active users and 3,26% of the browser market share worldwide from cross-site tracking attempts.

Firefox now blocks cross-site tracking by default for all users