Brave is essentially just Chrome with an adblocker, a bunch of bloatware, and a bunch of controversies.

Brave took BAT donations in YouTuber’s names without their consent, with them keeping the money if the YouTubers didn’t claim it. https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2019/01/13/brave-web-browser-no-longer-claims-to-fundraise-on-behalf-of-others-so-thats-nice/

Brave’s search engine crawler hides itself from websites by pretending to be Googlebot, and Meta (Facebook) buys API access from them to train their AI. https://stackdiary.com/brave-selling-copyrighted-data-for-ai-training/

The business model of Brave rewards as a whole is to block all other ad networks to replace them with their own, which is unfair as only YouTubers and websites that have joined can make money from most Brave users.

If Brave actually cared, they would create an acceptable ads style feature which was free for everyone and allowed simple contextual banners while blocking ads which track you, take up most of the page, or have NSFW content.

Their approach is monopolistic as they have full control and can strangle YouTubers and websites by dropping pay at any time.

And Brenden Eich has said on Twitter that he plans to release “Brave Origin”, which is a paid version of Brave without the bloatware. That name is ironic as he is admitting that his browser is commercialised and bloated, which is similar to when gorhill gave uBlock way to Chris Aljoudi who commercialised it, which led him to create uBlock Origin.

If you use Brave, ditch it and look at using Librewolf or Helium instead, which both include no ads nor tracking and don’t have Brave News, Rewards, Wallet, Talk etc bloatware.

  • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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    21 minutes ago

    Don’t forget that they used to add referral parameters to links you clicked so they got a kickback from you clicking things from anywhere even if they didn’t make that link for you.

  • ColdWater@lemmy.ca
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    3 hours ago

    I’m waiting for Servo to able to play YouTube videos then I’ll stop using Firefox (Floorp)

    • Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone
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      3 hours ago

      That’s all I use on my phone and I think it’s great.

      The search is kinda average and never returns results that matter when I’m searching businesses since I don’t allow location access but I still like it.

      I use brave on my pc but might need to change now

  • N.E.P.T.R@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    7 hours ago

    I don’t like Brave or the amount of bloat. Sadly what is missing from basically all Chromium forks is even basic browser anti-fingerprinting. The only other real example I can think of is Cromite, which is what i recommend people use instead of Brave.

  • LiamBox@lemmy.ml
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    5 hours ago

    Ah yes let me use Helium

    Whoop it uses google’s browser monopoly

    Firefox then

    Whoo it is chained by googles search engine deal

  • w3dd1e@lemmy.zip
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    14 hours ago

    Brave is the browser version of Honey. It blocks 3rd party ads and inserts its own, taking the money. Either block the ads or don’t but this is shitty.

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    13 hours ago

    I never used it specifically because of it being run by Brenden Eich. I have no intention of knowingly throwing my towel in and helping to enrich someone who’s thrown his money around to strip people of the right to marry who they want because he finds it icky.

    I’m sure there’s other bad shit from him but after that I just treat him and anything he does as pure toxin.

    If that sounds harsh, well, I don’t give a fuck.

  • BoycottTwitter@lemmy.zip
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    15 hours ago

    I remember Brave was popular among MAGA-type people during Trump’s first term. I suspect it’s likely the same.

    The logo has a striking resemblance to one I remember seeing on a big pro-Trump community. It’s described here https://www.vox.com/2019/8/29/20838289/trump-fascist-lion-head-bull-testicles-video-twitter basically the logo is associated with Mussolini.

    In addition if you check the Wikipedia article you’ll notice this:

    In August 2016, the company had received at least US$7 million in angel investments from venture capital firms, including Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Propel Venture Partners, Pantera Capital, Foundation Capital and the Digital Currency Group.[13]

    Moreover some right-wing type people expressed their “solidarity” with Brendan Eich for his anti LGBT stance so they used Brave.

  • kratoz29@lemmy.zip
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    18 hours ago

    I am pretty set with Firefox in Android and desktop to be honest.

    I cringe a little when users praise Brave as being the best ad-less YouTube solution (especially android users since we have revanced here!), no bro, there is no way using the web version of YT is better than revanced, or any other apps on mobile.

    • relativestranger@feddit.nl
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      2 hours ago

      I am pretty set with Firefox in Android and desktop to be honest.

      been using firefox since before it was called firefox, and netscape before that. while i do use ‘other’ browsers, too, their use is limited to testing and a few select sites or purposes only (for instance, i use a ‘portable’ opera for mail, and only mail).

    • southernbrewer@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      On iOS it might be though, because there’s no revanced and browsers can’t have plugins so the only way to adblock is to use a browser that bakes it in.

      This means (afaik) Brave, DuckDuckGo or Opera. IME adblocking for youtube specifically is patchy with Opera, can’t speak for DuckDuckGo.

      Or just don’t use iOS. I don’t much but we have an iPad for occasional use

    • Void98@lemmy.ml
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      7 hours ago

      And now Morphe too, continuation of the revanced project, and it’s acually really good i have to say

    • marcie (she/her)@lemmy.ml
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      11 hours ago

      Their shields AdBlock is very good though, it’s done in ram in a memory safe way, arguably doing it through an extension like ublock is not great. I can’t wait until a project facelifts shields and puts it on top of an unbloated security focused chromium (or Firefox grows some balls and builds it in). Vanadium pls 🥺

      • Void98@lemmy.ml
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        7 hours ago

        Or even Firedragon which is a fork of both librewolf and floorp, best browser i have ever used! I recommend trying it out.

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    7 hours ago

    so it s bad bc of some opt in feature ? tbf it work great and suit my use case i dont see any argument that will make me ditch it

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      5 hours ago

      It’s bad because it’s a Peter thiel funded MAGA browser run by someone who hates people for their sexual orientation

      • bigmamoth@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        And ? Wont you find me ridiculous if i said i didnt want to use software coded by trans ppl ? what do i care about the opinion of the guys or what he does with his money ?

        • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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          5 hours ago

          Are you serious? Of course people should care if people are using their power and influence to strip certain people of their rights.

              • bigmamoth@lemmy.world
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                3 hours ago

                it s a never ending argument that s only based on vibes. We can literally make dozen of similar one with any brand or product. I mean it s a choice to place trans right uper than child labor, and you r free to do so but lecturing other on the principle you do it isnt fair.

                • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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                  2 hours ago

                  Nobody mentioned child labour.

                  Thinking gay and trans people should have human rights does not mean you must be fine with child labour.

  • Manu@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    I always use and recommend hardened Firefox + Ublock. As a search engine, I use Qwant, which is based in the EU and uses its own search engine whenever possible rather than Google, Bing, etc. And there is another reason not to recommend using Brave. Among its investors is Peter Thiel, the most controversial figure in the investment world. Search for Peter Thiel’s controversial statements in your favourite search engine and you will see for yourself.