Firefox comes with the Google search engine by default in many countries. This may change soon. Mozilla is currently testing the default search engine set to Microsoft Bing and how it will affect Firefox users.
Modern browsers support multiple search engines out of the box. The list is expandable be the user, who can add or remove custom search providers.
The default search engine is the search provider that is set before the user makes any change in settings of the browser. It is an important thing not only for the user but for Mozilla too. It generate some revenue for the company, which used to be more that a half of Mozilla's revenue for several years.
Mozilla's partnership with Google is expected to remain active till 2023. Probably Mozilla is looking for a reliable alternative if Google decide to terminate the contract and to stop financing its default search engine option in the browser.
In order to test the things, Mozilla is setting Bing as the default search provider for 1% of users starting September 2021. It is currently unknown when the company will stop testing this new configuration, but they need to collect enough data to ensure the future of the browser.
As of this writing, The latest Firefox version is Firefox 92. Several recent releases, in addition to the new Proton style, are focused on improving user data protection, privacy, and anti-tracking. Mozilla is actively working in this direction. But the change of the default search engine is unlikely related to privacy improvements. At least because there are better search solutions available on the market, primarily focused on protecting users' private life.
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