{"id":83983,"date":"2025-12-11T06:21:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T14:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/?p=83983"},"modified":"2025-12-11T10:00:35","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T18:00:35","slug":"open-what-you-want-choice-survey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/firefox\/open-what-you-want-choice-survey\/","title":{"rendered":"What we learned about choice and control online this year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Earlier this year, we invited you<\/a> to join us in celebrating online choice, and to take a stand for independence and control in your digital life. It\u2019s a call to action at the heart of our campaign Open What You Want<\/em>, which celebrates autonomy, defiance, and showing up online exactly as you are, starting with the simple act of choosing your browser. It\u2019s one of the most important digital decisions you can make, shaping how you experience the web, protect your data, and express yourself online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We wanted to understand how people think about choice in their everyday lives, how they express it, celebrate it, and fight for it. So we took Firefox on the road to connect with our communities IRL to learn more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From coffee raves to cosplay: What we learned about choice IRL<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We showed up in places where choice is part of the experience \u2014 in cities and cultural hubs where creativity, fandom, and freedom of expression thrive. From the Heroes Festival in Freiburg<\/a> and our House Blend day-rave series<\/a> in Chicago, Berlin, LA, and Munich, to TwitchCon <\/a>in San Diego, our Footbrawl<\/a> tournament in Berlin, and Comic Con in Stuttgart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everywhere we went, one thing was clear: people love having real choice in the moments that matter to them \u2014 whether it\u2019s picking the coffee blend that powers their day, choosing their cosplay or gaming character, or deciding how they show up online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But online, choice and control have slipped from our hands, and often, when it feels like we\u2019re choosing, Big Tech platforms have already decided for us.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Three
Image credits (left to right): Mondo Robot, Holger Talinski & The Barkers<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The reality of online choice today<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To unpack this problem, we polled 8,000 adults over 18 years old in France, Germany, the UK and the U.S. on how they navigate choice and control both online and offline.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey, conducted by research agency YouGov, showcases a tension between people\u2019s desire to have control over their data and digital privacy, and the reality of the internet today \u2014 a reality defined by Big Tech platforms that make it difficult for people to exercise meaningful choice online:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n