Chromium is controlled by Google.
Browsers down steam on Chromium will either pull from chromium or fork from it.
They hold >75% of global browser market share.
They make a change, like enforcing Web Environment Integrity API, you either comply or your competing chromium browser will.
@Spudwart @lolcatnip, wrong, Chromium is FOSS and every browsercompany is free to gutt it out and modify it to their like, it’s not more controlled by Google than Gecko with several Google devs working in Mozilla on Firefox.
The Problem is Google itself with it’s imperialistic behavior in internet, not which browser you use. This is precisely why he invented this WEI crap, because previous attempts to control it through Browser engine APIs didn’t work.
Sure, in theory.
But putting in the work to maintain a Chromium fork whose engine significantly differs from upstream? Especially over time as more changes are made that you’ll want to remove, and new features you DO want rely on some you DON’T…
Takes a lot of dev time/money.
Realistically other than Microsoft I don’t think any of the alternative Chromium browsers have the resources.
And most users are going to be on a browser fully confirming to pretty much all engine changes Google makes.
In reality, the larger Chromium’s market share - the bigger Google’s iron fist on web development.
Just because nobody else wants to do the work Google is doing, that doesn’t mean Google controls it. It just means people who have a lot more skin in the game than you do have looked at the situation and decided that making use of Google’s work is the best way for them to achieve their goals.
