How does Opera make money? An explainer on monetization
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Opera Comments Bot last edited byHow has Opera been able to offer you so many products and services for free for so long? How does Opera make money? Let’s break it down!
Read full blog post: How does Opera make money? An explainer on monetization
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Himmelskumpel last edited byI'm very glad, you're bringing this up. It's good to know you're looking for transparency, because that's what we users deserve. It's on the same level as your debunking the spyware allegations a while ago.
So generally my acclaim to your post here, thank you. As I said, I'm happy with you bringing thus to our attention.But if you don't mind, I would like to give some honest thoughts about the things you say. Having a longer experience with the Opera browsers on desktop, Android and iOS I see, there are some points to mention here.
First of all, it's really great that you can toggle off a lot promotional things in the browser. You also ship ad blocking and track protection even with uBlock Origin lists. That's great.
But if you install Opera for the first time either on Android or on desktop, you'll find a lot of stuff enabled by default which you have to opt out and not opt in. Let's name a few: newsfeed, promotional suggestions, weather forecast, Cashback etc. I really would prefer if I would be asked if I would opt in (I get, you have to earn money!). Especially as you promote Opera as a privacy (respecting) browser, which it isn't exactly.
The other thing I have to mention: After a fresh installation it's quite nice to see, that ad blocking is turned on (with some default exceptions like Google, Facebook and others). But with tracking protection turned off by default, although I consider this even more important than the first.
I know it's riding on the blade: on the one hand giving user choices, on the other hand making some money. But whenever I install Opera a new, I get the impression that all these privacy opt outs (shouldn't they be opt in?) are shattered all around the settings and you'll stumble upon them every now and then. I sometimes think, I haven't yet found each of them.So in the end, concerning privacy I generally would trust you, but not totally so. You still collect a great amount of data, don't you? And some things in this blog and your privacy policy stays vague in this respect. Nevertheless, Opera is a great browser and I only wish you could even make it better.
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Opera-Security Opera last edited by@himmelskumpel: Hey, first of all, thank you very much for your feedback - this is really valuable to us in understanding our users’ viewpoints. We do try to shed some light on these topics because we know that information can get distorted or misunderstood, so we agree that transparency is the best approach. Case in point, you say that we still "collect a great amount of data", and that's actually a misconception. In fact, as explained in the article, we only collect certain data and only with users' consent - certainly less than many default option browsers, and none of it can be used to identify specific people in any practical way. We will continue breaking this information down in this blog and our website, which will hopefully help clear up any misgivings you have!
To your point about Opera features - yes, Opera sports a wide range of features, and not all of them will be useful to everyone all the time. But keep in mind we have a very large and diverse user base across a multitude of markets, each with its own culture, preferences, and needs. A feature that's superfluous to one user might be extremely useful to another. We also don't come as default with a device, which means we have to convince people to give us a try. Therefore, we always try to innovate and offer features that bring unique benefits to users who choose us.
Most importantly, we believe in user choice. One user might want to make full use of our features, or feel strongly about supporting our monetization efforts. Another user might want to have as private an experience as possible. We want to be able to accommodate both. In a world where large players dominate and dictate users’ experiences, giving users options means giving them leverage over the experience they want to have online. We try to put the power in users’ hands by giving them the tools to set their own terms when they use their preferred software.
Once again, thank you for your comment and for the trust you do put in us!
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Himmelskumpel last edited by
@Opera-Security Thank you, that's very kind of you to answer my post so exhaustively.
There's a lot of rumors about Opera if not even hate against it on some forums. I don't believe it. Still, I ask questions and saw your initial post.
I wouldn't use Opera if I wouldn't trust it. So thanks a lot for reaching out. -
Himmelskumpel last edited by
I'm a little annoyed, suddenly. Can you explain this behavior, @Opera-Security , please:
I'm typing the word "deezer" in the address bar to make a search for it in my standard search engine DDG.
The word "deezer" will be auto-completed in the address bar to "deezer.com". I click into the address bar and delete the .com, with only having deezer staying there. In the left end of the address bar I'm having the DDG favicon.
But now: When I click enter, I won't land on DDG with search results for Deezer, but I'm taken through a tracking site the eventually leads me to the French homepage of Deezer. Which is strange anyway, because I'm located in Germany.
I made a clean install this morning and haven't gone to a suspicious site since then. So in all probability this behavior comes from Opera and isn't happening to any other search items, except for Deezer. -
Himmelskumpel last edited by Himmelskumpel
I am so disappointed by you @Opera-Security . Because it also happened after I had wiped it from my MacBook and installed it again.
Setting DuckDuckGo as my primary search engine, made all the distinguished security active and had sync off.
So, no malicious link from history and no such behavior in Vivaldi.
Actually this drives me out. I trusted you, I even defended you, but that's even more than annoying, that's toxic. -
Opera-Security Opera last edited by
@himmelskumpel: Hello again! This is actually not expected behavior, and we haven't been able to reproduce it on our side. Could you contact us over forum chat with some more details so we can look into it?
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Himmelskumpel last edited by
@Opera-Security I sent you the link through which I was routed and the site, where I landed. I won't post them in the open here.
I'm here on my work laptop with Windows and nothing like this happens. Seems to be a Mac only issue at least in my case.
Additionally to what I wrote in the private message, I don't have any extensions installed and I turned ad and tracking protection on with all the uBlock filtes enabled. I don't allow third party cookies either. -
Himmelskumpel last edited by
I've found the reason for this behavior, so you can hopefully reproduce it.
It's caused by suggestions in the addressbar. I turned this feature on in my installation. But promotional suggestions were turned off in my Windows machine - but not in my Mac one.
The moment I have promotional suggestions in the address bar turned on, my Windows version of Opera shows the same behavior as the one on Mac..This of course isn't only annoying, seems nearly like a fraudulent thing, in my opinion. Because it's no website suggestion in the address bar and you don't even realize that you're opening a sponsored link as there's no indicator for that. I don't even have a choice.
Let's compare it with Vivaldi's implementation e.g. They also add affiliate links into the address bar, calling them "Direct Match". It's not to everyone's taste actually, But all theses links are indicated as such, you can consciously click them to allow them some money. But this in Opera's case is totally hidden from the user. I think that really is malicious.
As someone who has trusted you, it's like being trodden into the face. Not sure, what else had been going on beneath the surface the time I was using your browser.
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Opera-Security Opera last edited by
@himmelskumpel: Hi again, as we mentioned in our direct message to you, we are looking into the issue and trying to reproduce it. For the moment, we have been unable to, but our team is looking into it. We hope you'll give us some leeway to get to the bottom of this.
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Himmelskumpel last edited by Himmelskumpel
@Opera-Security Well, I really hope you'll find a good reason for this behavior. It looks like a regional promotional campaign shoved down to some users.
Funnily as I mentioned, it leads me to the French homepage not to my native German.
As I said, it hasn't happened before as I always toggled "promotional suggestions" off for the address bar. I let it on in good faith, that I would be served responsibly and transparently. -
Himmelskumpel last edited by
To be honest, the whole incident has left a sour taste in my mouth. I know I can deactivate the suggestions from the address bar and the promotional ones, too. Good to have been given a choice.
But the way of implemantation is kind of weird. If there were promotional suggestions I'd prefer to see, that they are. Let there be an Indikator, maybe showing a link in another colour e.g. So I can choose to click it, to allow Opera some money.
But let's say, I want to find out about Deezer, Amazon or Otto to name a few and type these words into the address bar, I'm exspecting to be taken to my default search engine, not to a sponsored site of one of them. This isn't exactly what a "suggestion" would look like. A suggestion would show me a sponsored link which I may click or may not (that's how it works in Vivaldi e.g.). But If I chose the item proper ("Deezer, Otto or Amazon e.g.) my choice is to not go to the sponsored site for whatever reason.
I fully agree that you have to monetize your browser and I would even try to support this. But this doesn't seem legit to me. It's a disappointment for me personally. -
Opera-Security Opera last edited by
@himmelskumpel: Thank you for your feedback. We are always looking to improve our features and services and we appreciate users sharing their thoughts in this regard. As the intent of this blog is to provide more clarity about our monetization features, we have added more detail in the section regarding Promoted Suggestions so it is clearer to readers, and we will bring your feedback to our teams as well.