How to find an ethical web browser

In this article we explore some of the issues around browser use, and which browsers are best for privacy and security. 

We also look at the ethics and tax records of some of the big tech companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft and Samsung which dominate the browser world. 

Plus we highlight big tech's use of data centres and AI, and the impact of this on the environment, and suggest some ways to reduce the impact of your internet use.

Why your choice of web browser is important

Browsers like Chrome, Edge, and Safari have been developed by big tech companies with an interest in making money. These companies track your web browsing habits and collect data on what web pages you’ve visited (your search history) for example.

They use this personal data to create user profiles for targeted advertising and to sell to third parties. Showing adverts is how most browser companies make their money.

How can you tell if your online activity is being tracked? You may start to see adverts related to things you’ve searched for, or for web sites you’ve visited recently. For example, if you’ve been researching a holiday to Germany, you may start seeing adverts for flights, travel insurance and hotels. Some people might find this helpful. Others may see it as an invasion of privacy.

Alongside data gathering issues, some companies who own browsers may use your online activity to train AI tools, such as Google and Microsoft.

If you are uncomfortable with tech companies being able to monetise your data or use it for other means, use browsers that are more careful with your data, as identified in this article. 

Which browsers are the most popular?

Globally the browser market is dominated by Google with its Chrome browser. This browser is used by around 65% of people browsing the web worldwide – having grown massively from just 25% a decade ago. Next largest is Apple which claims just under 20% with the Safari browser. All other browsers have a tiny share of the market in comparison. 

Sources: StatCounter and Oberlo.

There are variations by country and by device. For example, Chrome is less dominant in the UK at 45%, and Apple’s Safari is slightly higher at 32%.

Mobile devices will tend to have a default browser pre-installed, for example Android’s default browser is Google Chrome.  

How to block online ads when browsing

Adverts can be used to track your online activity if you click on them, and can be annoying if you don’t want to see them.

Pop-up adverts can be particularly worrisome, with some redirecting you to malicious sites, which might contain malware, viruses, out-of-date software, or malicious code.

Blocking auto-playing video adverts and other irritations can make your browsing experience better, faster, and safer too. If you don’t want adverts to appear on web pages you view you can install ‘ad blockers’ as an extension or plug-in to your browser. Popular options include Ad Blocker, Ghostery, and uBlock Origin.

Some browsers come with in-built ad blockers. These browsers include Brave, LibreWolf, Opera, and Tor. Firefox's anti-tracking feature blocks some adverts. And whilst the DuckDuckGo browser doesn’t currently support extensions, it has some built-in data blocking which prevents many adverts.

But, Google is making efforts to prevent people from using this kind of plug-in, which interferes with a major revenue source. Its updates to Chrome have turned off some ad blocker extensions which users have installed, and the updates are likely to affect more ad blockers during 2025. This change by Google may also affect Opera and Microsoft’s Edge browsers because these run on the same underlying technology, called Chromium, which was created by Google.

Some ad blockers aren’t available for particular browsers. For example, uBlock Origin isn’t available for Safari because Apple (which owns Safari) has prevented it from being installed as an extension. 

Which browsers won’t sell your data for advertising?

DuckDuckGo has adverts on its search pages and makes an income from private ads and affiliate partnerships. But as it doesn’t track or store your history, the adverts are related only to your current search e.g. if you type in walking boots, they will show you adverts for them, but these won’t appear the next day on an unrelated search.

Firefox is made by Mozilla, which is a non-profit organisation and doesn’t sell users’ browsing and search history to advertising companies.

Brave has a different take on adverts. It doesn’t gather or sell user data indiscriminately, but allows users to anonymously opt in to seeing adverts which have been pre-approved by Brave, which then earn the person rewards. The adverts on Brave don’t track users in the traditional way and no personal data is gathered. But they are a way of consumers supporting approved companies, which also helps Brave continue to offer its service.

Revenue from Ecosia's adverts is used to fund its climate activities particularly tree planting. Ecosia says that if you click on the adverts, this is not associated with a user profile. This means your clicks cannot be used to target ads to you either on Ecosia or elsewhere on the Internet. They partner with Microsoft to run the adverts.

Which browsers have the strongest privacy settings?

Personal data is a valuable commodity. Not only can it be sold to advertising companies to target you with specific adverts, but it may be stolen with the potential for identity theft and fraud.

Information can be recorded by cookies. These are small text files of information created when you visit a website, and they are stored on your device. Cookies are generally used for storing your preferences and other personalisation features. This includes things like passwords and language settings. 

Cookies can be temporary, permanent, first party, or third party. If you regularly visit a weather page for example, a first party cookie may store your location so that you don’t have to type in the town name every time. It’s set by the owner of the weather website. In contrast, a third party cookie which is gathered while you are on the weather page has been placed there by other providers, primarily for tracking activity and advertising purposes.

Cookies can store enough data to potentially identify you without your consent. They are the main way that advertisers use to track your online activity so that they can target you with specific adverts. Cookies can be considered personal data in certain circumstances and are therefore subject to the GDPR regulations in the UK and EU. This includes US-based websites visited by someone in the UK. As a result of this you often have to either accept or decline different types of cookies (e.g. ‘essential’ or non-essential) when you visit a website.

Information can also be stored in your browser history, which lists all the sites and web pages you’ve been to. Sometimes it can be handy to look through your history if you need to find a website again, but it may be accessed by others, for example, by law enforcers, with different legislation in place in different countries. Those involved in sensitive work like activism may therefore want to limit the amount of information stored in their browser history.

The default privacy settings vary considerably depending on the browser you use. If you don’t want to spend ages going through all the settings and changing them to higher levels of privacy, use a browser which starts off at a higher level e.g. Brave, Epic or Tor.

Using privacy features and VPNs

Most browsers have a private browsing feature, which you can switch to when you don’t want your activities recorded. Depending on the browser this may be called an ‘incognito’ tab or ‘private’ window. This enables you to visit websites without the browser recording your activity and storing cookies. However, your internet activity is still available to your Internet Service Provider (ISP – the company providing your internet connection). Only a fully encrypted connection, such as a Virtual Private Network (VPN), will provide mostly fail-safe privacy. 

A VPN encrypts your internet activity (converts into a secret code), and then sends it through a different network before it connects you to the website you want. You are therefore browsing the internet using the secondary server, which may be in a different country. This helps disguise your identity and activity on the internet. VPNs can be used to bypass geographic restrictions, shield your activity on public Wi-Fi, and hide your real IP address when browsing.

Tor is perhaps the most well-known browser which prevents data tracking. The Tor browser makes sure your browsing history and data are protected as it conceals your IP address. (The IP address is a unique identifier which enables you to send and receive information over the internet, like your home address but an online version.) It does this by routing your activity through several servers (a server is essentially a computer that processes requests sent over a network and replies to them) before it reaches your chosen destination, rather than going direct.

Tor also encrypts all your web traffic and does not store your browsing data, cookies, history or cache files locally. This means your identity is hidden, and your location and country unknown. Your ISP only knows that you are using the Tor browser but it does not know which websites you visit. The operators of the websites that you visit and anyone watching them, will see a connection coming from the Tor network instead of your real IP address, and will not know who you are unless you explicitly identify yourself.

What are the best browser security features? 

Browsers that have more security built-in save you having to add extensions, which may include malicious code, such as viruses.

It’s best to use the latest version of any browser so that you avoid potential hackers taking advantage of insecure features or known vulnerabilities.

Some browser features may have automated blocks against potential phishing or malware sites or may provide you with a warning notice before you visit specific sites.

Some browsers also default to using ‘https’ – which is basically an extension before a web address that changes the instructions given to your server to make your browsing more secure. Using https (with the s, not just http://) encrypts your communication when you visit a website. ‘HTTPS Everywhere’ is a free extension available for Firefox, Chrome and Opera browsers on most platforms, and on Android mobile devices. HTTPS by Default is available for Brave. 

Other issues with big tech

Along with sidelining privacy and security issues, many big tech companies who dominate the browser market are also problematic companies for other reasons.

Here we explore the issues of tax avoidance, connections with the military, and energy consumption.

Big tech and tax avoidance

Amazon, Google, and Microsoft dominate the browser world, as well as the tech industry in general. But their approach to paying their fair share of tax is less than ideal.

A 2023 report by TaxWatch found that seven large US-based technology groups made so much profit from selling to UK customers in 2021 that they should have paid around £2.8 billion in UK tax. TaxWatch estimated that around £753 million was paid in UK corporation tax and digital services tax, leaving a gaping hole of £2 billion UK tax avoided.

This £2 billion could have paid for public services, including health workers and teachers.

The companies manage these reduced tax payments through complex structures to move profits out of the UK so that they are liable for far lower taxes.

Our 2024 research into Amazon found likely use of tax avoidance strategies. We estimated that Amazon should have paid around £433 million in UK tax in 2023. But, because of Amazon’s aggressive tax avoidance strategies, it’s likely to pay only £18 million, a tiny fraction of the amount that might be expected. Amazon’s owner, Jeff Bezos, has recently been the focus of campaigners who argue that the super-rich should pay more tax. His hiring of many parts of Venice for his wedding was met with resistance and calls for him and other billionaires to contribute more fairly to tax.

Apple, Alphabet (Google’s owner) and Microsoft all score exceptionally badly for tax conduct in our ethical ratings.

(Note, this article is not one of our shopping guides, and some of the browser companies in this article have not been rated by us and we have not looked at what their tax arrangements are.)

Big tech and the military

Both Google and Microsoft are implicated in supporting the Israeli government. 

Google is on a 'pressure target' list for its involvement. In April 2024, TIME reported that "Google provides cloud computing services to the Israeli Ministry of Defense, and the tech giant has negotiated deepening its partnership during Israel’s war in Gaza”. Earlier that month, the magazine found that Google and Amazon shared a $1.2 billion contract with Israel, and had fired an employee who protested against the agreement in light of Israel’s siege of Palestine. 

And according to the BDS website "Microsoft is perhaps the most complicit tech company in Israel’s illegal apartheid regime and ongoing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza." The BDS website lists the many ways that Microsoft supports the Israeli military and government. 

Big tech and energy costs

Powering the internet uses a lot of energy. Every time someone looks something up in a search engine, it uses energy to find and present the results. Even more energy is used if browsers are storing this search data to share with advertising companies or to use for training AI tools.

The big tech companies are also investing heavily in artificial intelligence (AI, or machine learning). This gobbles up even more energy, and the UK’s prime minister has indicated that nuclear power plants may be built across the UK to help meet the rising energy demand from this.

Online information is stored in something known as the ‘cloud’, which is powered by massive data centres around the world – essentially huge warehouses with enormous amounts of computer technology.

These data centres consume huge amounts of electricity to power them and water to run their cooling systems to prevent the tech from overheating. A personal computer usually has a fan which will run every so often to stop your laptop from overheating. The same is needed for these massive data centres, on a very large scale.

The UK currently hosts 523 data centres, the third highest of any nation globally, with at least nine more in development. According to a recent report on cloud and AI energy demands by Energy UK (the trade association for the energy industry), data centres currently use 1-2% of electricity in Great Britain. With the rapid expansion of AI, machine learning, and the Internet of Things, data centres are forecast to account for 10% of British electricity demand by 2050, the equivalent of more than 11 million homes.

Globally, the largest number of data centres is in the USA, followed by Germany, the UK, China, France and Australia. Although Ireland ‘only’ has 55 data centres at present, they are placing a huge strain on the island’s ability to meet the electricity demand to run them. According to the Energy UK’s ‘Powering the Cloud’ 2025 report, they currently use 21% of total Irish energy demand, but this is projected to rise to 30% within 10 years based on currently planned data centres alone. 

Big tech and emissions from the cloud

The same tech giants that run web browsers also often own the cloud where data is saved. Our guide to streaming services reports that Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the market leader in cloud computing services, with 31% of the global cloud market. Microsoft follows this with 24%, and then Google with 11%. Between them they account for 67% – meaning that they have massive energy demands.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), data centres and data transmission networks were responsible for 1% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions in 2020. However, with the expansion in data centres this is likely to already be higher, and Data Centre Magazine estimate that the current consumption of 460TWh (terawatt hours) electricity could rise to 1,000TWh in the near future, equivalent to Japan's entire annual energy consumption.

Unfortunately, most of the big tech companies are not using 100% renewable energy to power these energy demands and score poorly for climate policies. The IEA says that the four largest purchasers of corporate renewable energy power purchase agreements (Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft) have contracted almost 50 GW of renewable energy to date, which they say is equal to the generation capacity of Sweden.

However, 50GW is a miniscule amount compared to what is being used, equivalent to only 2.5TWh, which is 0.5% of the current usage.

We recently rated Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft for climate and environmental policies. Microsoft and Google both scored extremely badly, with Apple doing better than both. Apple gained points due to its commitments to renewable electricity and reducing its carbon emissions.

We have previously covered Amazon's poor track record on the environment.

How to save energy when using the internet

Although our ethical broadband guide reports that using the internet isn’t likely to be a huge part of your carbon footprint, there are still ways we can reduce our energy use, even if by a small amount.

When using a browser, one of the easiest ways to save energy is to use bookmarks (also called ‘favourites’) for your most visited sites. Do this with the bookmark toolbar, or you can use an online service if you want to access it on multiple devices.

Every search made using a search engine will be using their energy banks. It’s estimated using bookmarks (or typing the url in directly if you know it) can cut browsing-related carbon emissions by 35%.

AI uses even more energy. For example, a ChatGPT search requires around ten times more electricity than a standard internet search. And 100 ChatGPT searches is equivalent to running a fridge for 5 hours or charging a laptop five times. 

Unfortunately, many search engines are now using AI to return results or create summaries, such as Bing using Microsoft’s Copilot, and Google’s Gemini AI Overview summaries. If you don’t want AI generated answers, use a search engine which (currently) doesn’t use them e.g. Ecosia, or enables you to turn them off.

Another, perhaps minor, saving can come from using browsers which load things quicker. These tend to be the ones that block more adverts and pop-ups, speeding up your browsing experience.

Who owns which browsers?

The browser world can be divided into two groups: those owned by big tech companies, and those which are open source (which means anyone can look at and use its code) and/or owned by independent or non-profit organisations.

Big tech companies:

• Chrome: Google
• Edge: Microsoft
• Safari: Apple
• Samsung Internet

Independent:

• Brave: open source
• DuckDuckGo: open source
• Ecosia: independent, B Corp, non profit; both the search engine and browser generate money to fund tree planting including at hospital sites in the UK.
• Firefox: Mozilla Foundation, non profit
• LibreWolf: open source, off-shoot of Firefox designed initially for Linux
• Tor: open source, developed by the Tor Project, non profit organisation

Opera is a little different. It was developed in Norway in 1995, but has since been owned by different Chinese companies and is currently owned by Kunlun, a publicly-listed Chinese company. Its HQ remain in Norway.

Browser compatibility with different operating systems

Most browsers will work on most desktop computers, laptops and mobile devices. But, some are proprietary, meaning they only work with specific software and devices. The table below outlines which browsers are currently compatible with which operating systems. 
 

Which browser is best for …

• Avoiding big tech companies: Brave, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Firefox, Tor.
• Supporting an open and fair internet: Firefox (see the Mozilla Manifesto); Mozilla is a champion of internet privacy and safety and Firefox is open source.
• Automatically blocking pop-ups and ads: Brave, DuckDuckGo, Firefox (some ads), LibreWolf, Opera, Tor.
• Anonymity and security: Tor.
• All-round general privacy and security: Brave, Tor.

Other browsers are available of course, this article has not covered them all. 

But … Ethical Consumer has adverts on its website!

We couldn’t write an article about internet privacy without mentioning our policies.

We do have adverts on our website. These are ‘non targeted’ adverts that don’t alter depending on who you are or what you’re looking for. We don’t gather any personal information about you from them, and you can choose to disable cookies so you won’t be shown the adverts.

We carefully screen our advertisers so we only accept adverts from ethical companies. This forms a small part of our income stream.