Orville McDonald, Senior Director of Ads Products at Mozilla, joins the Brand Trust series sponsored by Mozilla to unpack why advertising is essential to keeping the open web alive, and why the industry must move past surveillance-based models. He explains Mozilla’s approach to “privacy plus performance,” where user choice, aggregated measurement, and new privacy-enhancing tech make ads effective without exposing people’s identities. The conversation also looks at how Firefox’s audience and long-term perspective position Mozilla to rebuild trust across digital advertising. Takeaways - Advertising can fund the open web without tracking people, if measurement shifts to privacy-safe methods. - User choice is the foundation of trust, and Firefox builds ads around opt-in controls and minimal data use. - The path forward is not tearing down ad tech, but upgrading it with privacy-enhancing technology that still delivers ROI. - Brand trust grows when products prove they put users first and make data flows transparent and respectful. Chapters 00:00 Orville’s role at Mozilla Ads and why trusted advertising matters. 02:30 What a privacy-first ad experience looks like inside Firefox. 03:27 How targeting and measurement can work without collecting PII. 05:46 Using aggregate verification to keep ads accountable and effective. 07:54 Why advertising is core to the open web and how to remove surveillance. 10:19 Drawing the line between personalization and privacy as a human right. 12:06 Mozilla’s long game for rebuilding brand trust online.