Is Brave Legit? | Controversies and Features explained.

Summary

The video examines Brave Browser’s controversies, privacy features, performance, and business model to help viewers assess whether it suits their needs. The presenter considers Brave a credible privacy-focused browser, although its optional crypto features and other services have attracted criticism. The presenter does not personally use Brave, preferring Firefox and Vivaldi.

Controversies and criticism

• Founder’s politics: Brave was founded by Brendan Eich, JavaScript’s creator and a Mozilla co-founder. Critics have objected to a past donation he made to an organization opposing same-sex marriage in California, and some argue that this reflects on the browser. The video presents this as criticism by association rather than a technical flaw in Brave.
• Crypto rewards: Brave’s ad model offers users Basic Attention Tokens (BAT) in exchange for viewing Brave-served ads. Critics question whether the tokens provide a fair or reliable substitute for conventional ad value. Cashing out also involves converting the cryptocurrency.
• Affiliate-code incident: In 2020, Brave was found to be adding affiliate codes to certain links. The presenter says the company described this as a mistake and fixed it quickly, while acknowledging the resulting reputational damage.
• VPN and firewall: Brave’s bundled VPN service drew criticism at launch, including reports of background services being installed on Windows and complaints about performance and functionality. The presenter notes that the situation may have changed and does not assess how the service worked on Linux.
• AI and Web3: Brave has added AI-related features, raising privacy questions. Some users are also wary of crypto and other Web3 elements.

Features and performance

• Brave Shields block trackers and other unwanted content. In the video’s BBC example, Shields reported blocking more than 133 trackers. Strong blocking can improve privacy but may cause some websites to malfunction, so users may need to adjust settings.
• Brave Search is intended to provide search results without tracking users or directing ad revenue to major technology companies.
• Rewards let users opt into Brave-served ads, with the possibility of supporting participating website creators.
• Other features mentioned include a Tor window, a playlist for saving audio and video to play later, news, video chat, and an optional firewall/VPN.
• The presenter cites Speedometer 3 browser testing. Brave generally scores well, though its relative position varies by platform. In the cited results, it did not consistently beat Chrome or Vivaldi on Windows, or Safari, Chrome, and Vivaldi on Mac. The presenter’s own benchmark experience placed Firefox below Brave, and Brave slightly below Vivaldi.
• Brave’s Acid3 web-standards test result was described as less impressive. In tests from PrivacyTests.org, Brave’s default settings scored strongly across many privacy measures.
• Brave is open source, but the presenter raises the broader challenge of how browsers can earn revenue while maintaining privacy.

Reviews, guides, or tutorials

The video is an overview and evaluation rather than a step-by-step tutorial. It demonstrates Shields on a website and discusses performance and privacy testing, but does not provide a full setup guide.

Main speaker and sources

• Speaker: The InfinitelyGalactic presenter and narrator.
• Sources mentioned: Corbin Davenport’s article criticizing Brave, Browser Rating’s Speedometer 3 testing, and PrivacyTests.org.