Brave Browser will soon redirect websites using Google's AMP technology to the normal page automatically.
AMP, which stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages, is a Google technology that Brave considers to be harmful to a user's privacy, security and experience.
Google claims that AMP improves the user experience by improving the loading performance of AMP-supported web pages. The pages are served by Google servers which uses preloading techniques to projection of AMP content.
Pages loaded via AMP look like they came from the publisher's website, but they really are not.
Note that Anti-AMP extensions are already available for most browsers. Firefox users can install Redirect AMP to HMTL, while users of Chromium-based browsers can use this version.
Brave Software identifies the following issues with Google's AMP technology:
- AMP is harmful to privacy — AMP pages give Google more information, as the content is served by Google. Google penalizes publishers who don't use AMP with reduced search visibility.
- AMP is bad for security - AMP content is uploaded by Google, but makes it appear as if it came directly from the publisher.
- AMP promotes Web monopoly — AMP content gives Google more control over the web by using “arbitrary templates”. Google controls the layout and technology used by AMP pages and this naturally benefits their core business companys, advertising.
- AMP is bad for performance and usability Google's claim that AMP-supported pages load faster only applies to "average performance". AMP pages may load slower than normal pages displayed on a publisher's website (Google revealed it to DOJ).
Η Google is already preparing AMP 2.0, although it will not be called that. The next version uses Signed Exchange and WebBundle technologies, proposed by Google, and will result in "more of the web being displayed by Google servers" and "giving users less control over how they interact with this content". according to Brave.
Η Brave considers Signed Exchange and WebBundles to be very problematic in terms of privacy, performance and user control.
Starting with Brave 1.38 already available on Beta and Nightly channels, De-AMP will be enabled automatically by default.
With De-AMP enabled, Brave will parse links directly to direct redirects to the publisher's website. This will also apply to Google Search, among others.
