How can you ban cross promotion, though? It's such a common practice across most industries. Chains like CVS put their generic versions right next to the name brands on the shelf, and even have signs that say "compare to <product being copied>." And it would actually be terrible for consumers if that were banned.
> Google apps “accidentally” having bugs or performance issues in Firefox
I would bet everything I own that this isn't happening. Would not be remotely worth the risk to Google. Besides, these bugs are rare enough and small enough impact that I don't even really notice them, and have never considered switching off of Firefox because of them, and I am a software engineer who is much more likely to notice this stuff than 99% of users.
Re:cross promotion, I think the big thing would requiring it to be open to anyone and/or paid. When CVS says “compare to Tylenol” they still have the name brand right there and don’t pretend their generic is somehow better. The web is different but I think it’d be useful to have a rule that, say, they can’t put Chrome ads in Gmail unless Microsoft can buy the same spot at the same price for Edge ads.
> I would bet everything I own that this isn't happening
As a daily Firefox user they’re pretty common - there was a long period where Meet, and only Meet, dropped Firefox calls frequently, GCP would get stuck in a redirect loop at login if you used a browser other than Chrome, etc.
I would be surprised if there was a smoking gun “break Firefox” instruction - more that it’s not a testing priority, they jump use Chrome proprietary APIs as quickly as possible and delay switching to the standard versions (like they did with YouTube with that slow web component polyfill), etc.
> Google apps “accidentally” having bugs or performance issues in Firefox
I would bet everything I own that this isn't happening. Would not be remotely worth the risk to Google. Besides, these bugs are rare enough and small enough impact that I don't even really notice them, and have never considered switching off of Firefox because of them, and I am a software engineer who is much more likely to notice this stuff than 99% of users.