Brave browser introduces De-AMP, a feature which bypasses Google-hosted AMP pages and takes users straight to the original website
Yet another nail in the AMP coffin — Brave announced a new feature for its browser on Tuesday: De-AMP, which automatically jumps past any page rendered …
Context & Ripple Effects
AMP began as a constrained fast-loading format, with limits on JavaScript and some HTML, before Google made AMP versions the default destination for available mobile-search results. Google later moved to show publisher URLs in its AMP cache and said it was applying AMP lessons to broader web standards, softening the distinction between accelerated pages and ordinary web pages.
Brave's De-AMP reverses the remaining navigation choice at the browser level: it bypasses the Google-hosted version and favors the publisher's original page. That matters because Google had already made AMP a search-routing mechanism, not solely a publishing format.
First-order effects
- Brave users reaching an AMP result are sent to the originating publisher site rather than the Google-hosted AMP page, reducing Google AMP cache exposure in those browsing sessions.
- Publishers whose pages are available in both forms receive Brave traffic on their original web pages instead of the restricted AMP rendering model described in AMP's original technical constraints.
Second-order effects
- Google's earlier move to direct mobile-search users to AMP when available, documented in its AMP-first mobile-search routing, loses force for users whose browser intervenes after the click.
- Browser-level bypasses make publishers less dependent on Google’s cache presentation, even after Google had adjusted AMP results to display publisher URLs.
Third-order effects
- The move reinforces a shift from proprietary or intermediary-hosted acceleration paths toward performance improvements implemented in web standards—an approach Google itself outlined in bringing AMP lessons to the wider web.
The trend: Web performance is moving away from platform-controlled page variants toward browsers and standards preserving direct publisher destinations.