@canadagoose4everreturns I have the same sentiments like you. I‘m in an on/off relation towards Opera. Main point like yours, is the Chinese ownership something to worry about?
I‘m glad they’ve been addressing the issue on their blog and on social media along with some other concerns as how they make money. If they were owned by a major European investor, I‘d be a lot more confident. Yet in my case I still really really like the browser.
Out of these concerns I‘d been trying different alternatives, sticking mainly to Firefox lately. I tried Brave but if you ask me you can’t trust them as well. It’s not the browser but the way they make their money with the crypto stuff and the libertarian world in their background. I also tried Vivaldi which may be the alternative that mostly resembles Opera itself. But at this point, I‘d say they are too much a power users’ browser. What I need and want to use, isn’t anything that Opera doesn‘t already have. And I think their mobile versions are not that good either.
I don’t actually believe that Opera is spyware in any sense. If they were, we would already know. I wouldn’t believe they‘re stealing any data for the Chinese government, but they‘re collecting quite more data than Firefox, Vivaldi and maybe even Brave. They have to make some money nevertheless, especially when you turn off all promotional stuff that’s turned on by default.
Otherwise if you go for Inside Opera on Instagram or to jobs.opera.com you‘ll see a lot of smart young people working for them in many different mostly European locations. They actively publish on their blogs about releases and changelogs. Would they do, if they were shady? I haven‘t found any report about the browser that would be really troublesome. But you can find some irritating reports about its mother company Kunlun and their owner. Is there a difference between the browser and those who own it?
People use Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Google and Microsoft but avoid Opera? Every major news site works with trackers. So, why is it a problem with Opera having ads? Newest Firefox will also have Suggest, promotional bookmarks and settings to open Firefox on start. They also offer VPN now, which isn’t nothing more than a proxy. Why is Opera criticized for doing the same, but Firefox not?
No, I haven’t settled on the question yet. Using both Firefox and Opera, with the former given me more peace of mind and the latter more fun and better workflow.

@canadagoose4everreturns At the end of the day it boils down to the question: Can I really use the browser I like in good conscience, although it is owned by a Chinese billionaire? Zhou Yahui holds roundabout 70% of Opera Ltd‘s stakes which is a controlling majority giving him access to strategic development of the company. So Opera, the browser may be headquartered in Norway, traded on NASDAQ, still Opera Ltd is registered on Cayman Islands and other stakeholders won‘t have any say in the development of Opera. These are facts, not speculations.
The browser is mainly developed in Poland (desktop) and some other European countries as Sweden (mobile). So on that front, it doesn’t seem there‘s something going on behind the scenes. So, again, how much does ownership control your feelings about a browser, that at its core is made by people in central Europe?
I still have no answer to that. I like Opera on desktop, Android and iOS. It looks modern, has some nifty features, works more than well enough, but still there‘s this uneasiness about who owns the company.

@canadagoose4everreturns Unfortunately I can’t upvote your comment. But I feel the same. The OPay thing has done a lot of reputational damage. You can’t get these things out of your mind and so can’t I.

@burnout426 Well, that doesn't sound very reassuring. I'd been using Opera for more than four years lately. But in a way it's become more messy in the last two years, actually.
They not only started side projects like Crypto, GX, Air and Neon, they also added AI which seems even harder to implement. And I'm guessing as they're not promoting it front and center they're already turning away from ther enthusiastic beginnings.
I noticed that AI was turned off when I installed Opera on my Android phone and I wasn't even asked to enable it.
Combine that with their Chinese majority owners, it's not as attractive as it was some years ago. I actually hope, they'll find their way again, focussing on Opera One and the browser experience proper.

@tlmurray Thank you for that.

@tlmurray I have to admit, that I like Opera quite a bit. It's nice to look at and it's pleasant to work with. Although I had used Opera in the early days I'm not so nostalgic about these days. So from a user's perspective I would even prefer it over Vivaldi as the latter resembles more of the earlier Opera vibes. The latter's great for those who like to have a mail client built in as in the former Opera. And for those who want to customize their browser to their liking. And they have a very good reputation and privacy track report.
There's hardly anything you can do in Opera, that you can't do in Vivaldi. But this holds at least for me the other way around.
One point in favor of Vivaldi is: They don't have to please investor's interests, as the company is employee owned. And they have kept up to their vision so far. Opera generally seems to be more driven by recent trends and by ways to monetize the browser.
The main obstacle for me is that Opera's main investement is taken by a Chinese company. Which of course doesn't automatically means that they are spying on you, as they've refuted a lot of times. But still, with the Chinese are always connected with spying in these geopolitical times (e.g. Huawei, TikTok), who will confidentally say, they never will with Opera. Main investor Kunlun was forced to sell Grindr, a dating app in the US, for using intimate user data, as far as I know. So, with all debunking and assuring from Opera's side there's still this ambiguity. I would trust Opera a lot more if their shares were hold by European investors like let's say a Norwegian pension fond.
On the other hand, we have to my knowledge no official advice let alone warning to use Opera in Europe or the US. Due to its small market share?
Given that Brave also has its own share of controversies your choice seems to be limited to Firefox and Vivaldi If you don't want to cling to the standard browsers like Chrome and Edge and don't want to use controversial browsers like Opera or Brave.

@canadagoose4everreturns May I just ask you, why you don't simply use Vivaldi then? It's the nearest thing to the former Opera and its forums are too.

@canadagoose4everreturns Unfortunately I can’t upvote your comment. But I feel the same. The OPay thing has done a lot of reputational damage. You can’t get these things out of your mind and so can’t I.

@canadagoose4everreturns At the end of the day it boils down to the question: Can I really use the browser I like in good conscience, although it is owned by a Chinese billionaire? Zhou Yahui holds roundabout 70% of Opera Ltd‘s stakes which is a controlling majority giving him access to strategic development of the company. So Opera, the browser may be headquartered in Norway, traded on NASDAQ, still Opera Ltd is registered on Cayman Islands and other stakeholders won‘t have any say in the development of Opera. These are facts, not speculations.
The browser is mainly developed in Poland (desktop) and some other European countries as Sweden (mobile). So on that front, it doesn’t seem there‘s something going on behind the scenes. So, again, how much does ownership control your feelings about a browser, that at its core is made by people in central Europe?
I still have no answer to that. I like Opera on desktop, Android and iOS. It looks modern, has some nifty features, works more than well enough, but still there‘s this uneasiness about who owns the company.

@canadagoose4everreturns I have the same sentiments like you. I‘m in an on/off relation towards Opera. Main point like yours, is the Chinese ownership something to worry about?
I‘m glad they’ve been addressing the issue on their blog and on social media along with some other concerns as how they make money. If they were owned by a major European investor, I‘d be a lot more confident. Yet in my case I still really really like the browser.
Out of these concerns I‘d been trying different alternatives, sticking mainly to Firefox lately. I tried Brave but if you ask me you can’t trust them as well. It’s not the browser but the way they make their money with the crypto stuff and the libertarian world in their background. I also tried Vivaldi which may be the alternative that mostly resembles Opera itself. But at this point, I‘d say they are too much a power users’ browser. What I need and want to use, isn’t anything that Opera doesn‘t already have. And I think their mobile versions are not that good either.
I don’t actually believe that Opera is spyware in any sense. If they were, we would already know. I wouldn’t believe they‘re stealing any data for the Chinese government, but they‘re collecting quite more data than Firefox, Vivaldi and maybe even Brave. They have to make some money nevertheless, especially when you turn off all promotional stuff that’s turned on by default.
Otherwise if you go for Inside Opera on Instagram or to jobs.opera.com you‘ll see a lot of smart young people working for them in many different mostly European locations. They actively publish on their blogs about releases and changelogs. Would they do, if they were shady? I haven‘t found any report about the browser that would be really troublesome. But you can find some irritating reports about its mother company Kunlun and their owner. Is there a difference between the browser and those who own it?
People use Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Google and Microsoft but avoid Opera? Every major news site works with trackers. So, why is it a problem with Opera having ads? Newest Firefox will also have Suggest, promotional bookmarks and settings to open Firefox on start. They also offer VPN now, which isn’t nothing more than a proxy. Why is Opera criticized for doing the same, but Firefox not?
No, I haven’t settled on the question yet. Using both Firefox and Opera, with the former given me more peace of mind and the latter more fun and better workflow.