Then we point to the in opt-out able donation systems they embedded into YouTube. The money goes directly to brave unless claimed and even if the content creators are against donations for their content (like Tom Scott) it’s never refunded.

Or we point to their affiliate links they embedded in every link to crypto sites for a while. Or the one site that recommends them as the best privacy browser that’s actually run by a Brave employee.

Everytime they fix it in a few weeks and tell everyone they will be better. And every time they find some other way to manipulate websites you are viewing for their gain after a year or so.

At this point it’s not the current state anymore, it’s the track record of the company that just scummy that should make you lose trust in them, but apparently their ad campaign is so effective everyone just sees the default ad blocking…

Do they still hijack links to add their own referral codes?

It’s opt-in.

Yeah, the part that makes you money is. Still have to manually disable all of the popups and icons begging you to use it.

You just described every single internet service that you’re not actively paying for.

Difference is those sites don’t necessarily advertise themselves as “privacy respecting”

https://thelibre.news/no-really-dont-use-brave/