[floatingatoll]

To try and restate this, in case I misunderstand:

You believe that Apple and Mozilla are rubber-stamping anything Google asks for because they’re afraid of a Google marketing campaign.

Have I accurately represented your beliefs?

[userbinator]

The situation is not so clear with Apple (but there is some evidence that it puts up at least some opposition: see hit-pieces like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27968394 and note all the pro-Chrome/Google opinions there...) but Mozilla is funded by Google.

...and regardless of whether you're using Chrome, the immense power of Google's marketing abilities cannot be overstated. It is an ad company, after all. (If you're using Chrome, it's self-explanatory; if you're not, you should notice just how much you get "recommended" to.)

[sofixa]

> see hit-pieces like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27968394 and note all the pro-Chrome/Google opinions there...)

Hit pieces? It's extremely plausible the people are fed up by Apple's refusal to implement basic features and fix show stopping bugs in their force-fed browser to protect their monopoly and money that comes in (30% cut of App Store sales).

[floatingatoll]

Definitely report what you perceive as astroturfing to the mods using the footer Contact link; they will want to know more.