Learn how to stop Firefox from showing sponsored websites in your shortcuts row on the start page.
I use Firefox regularly on my Mac alongside Google Chrome and Safari. I particularly use it to watch YouTube and other streaming services as its native Picture and Picture implementation is the best, when compared to other browsers.
By default, Firefox shows my recently or frequently visited websites on the start page for quick access. But I have customized it to show my most-used websites, like YouTube, Gmail, iDB, and iLoveIMG, in one row (as seen in the image above). However, a while back, I started noticing new websites like SkyScanner appearing in this row with a little ‘Sponsored’ label.
I’m all for Firefox making money. Unlike Microsoft Edge, Brave, and countless other browsers, it isn’t built on Chromium, so it offers a genuinely independent alternative to Chrome. This gives me more choice, which is worth supporting.
But at the same time, I don’t want my curated row of apps to get an unwanted entry after pushing my added website out of view.
If you think along the same lines, here’s how to stop sponsored websites from showing on your Firefox start page.
Block sponsored website shortcuts on the Firefox start page
- Open Firefox on your Mac or PC.
- Click the hamburger menu icon in the top right corner and select Settings.
- Select Home and startup in the left sidebar. You can also click the pencil customize icon in the bottom right corner of the start page and select ‘Manage more settings’ to jump directly to this screen.
- Scroll down to the Firefox Home section and turn off “Sponsored Shortcuts” to stop seeing ads pushed to your shortcuts row on the browser start page.
From this screen, you can also turn off “Sponsored Stories” to stop seeing paid articles and news content in the stories section that shows just under the website shortcuts row.
Or, just turn off the “Support Firefox” toggle to disable both sponsored shortcuts and stories in one go.
I’m so thankful that Firefox offers an easy way to turn these off, as you saw above. But if you ever change your mind and think seeing sponsored websites could help you discover something new, just follow the steps above again and turn on the “Sponsored Shortcuts” switch.
In case you want to see more websites on the start page, click the dropdown menu for “Shortcuts” and select 2, 3, or 4 rows. And if you don’t want to see your added or frequently visited websites, simply turn off the “Shortcuts” switch.
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