Google Plans Ad Blocking For Chrome Browser

[FreddyFreeloader]

PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

Alphabet Inc.’s Google is planning to introduce an ad-blocking feature in the mobile and desktop versions of its popular Chrome web browser, according to people familiar with the company’s plans.

The ad-blocking feature, which could be switched on by default within Chrome, would filter out certain online ad types deemed to provide bad experiences for users as they move around the web.

Google could announce the feature within weeks, but it is still ironing out specific details and still could decide not to move ahead with the plan, the people said.

Unacceptable ad types would be those recently defined by the Coalition for Better Ads, an industry group that released a list of ad standards in March. According to those standards, ad formats such as pop-ups, auto-playing video ads with sound and “prestitial” ads with countdown timers are deemed to be “beneath a threshold of consumer acceptability.”

In one possible application Google is considering, it may choose to block all advertising that appears on sites with offending ads, instead of the individual offending ads themselves. In other words, site owners may be required to ensure all of their ads meet the standards, or could see all advertising across their sites blocked in Chrome.

Google declined to comment.

The ad-blocking step may seem counter-intuitive given Google’s reliance on online advertising revenue, but the move is a defensive one, people familiar with the plans said.

Uptake of online ad blocking tools has grown rapidly in recent years, with 26% of U.S. users now employing the software on their desktop devices, according to some estimates.

By switching on its own ad-filter, Google is hoping to quell further growth of blocking tools offered by third-party companies, the people said, some of which charge fees in exchange for letting ads pass through their filters.

Google already pays to be part of an “Acceptable Ads” program offered by software company Eyeo GmbH, for example, which develops popular ad-blocking tool Adblock Plus. As a result, advertising on Google’s search engine and some of the other ads it powers are allowed to pass through Adblock Plus’s filters.

But the continued growth of ad-blocking is a worrying trend for Google, which generated over $60 billion in revenue from online advertising in 2016. It’s also a concern for other online publishers and services that rely on advertising revenue to support their businesses, many of which work with Google to help sell advertising space on their properties.

The Chrome browser now accounts for a large portion of web-browsing globally, so switching on ad-filters within it could give Google more control over the ad-blocking situation, industry observers say.

In the U.S. Chrome has nearly 47.5% of the browser market across all platforms, according to online analytics provider StatCounter.

 

[Ink]

In other words, site owners may be required to ensure all of their ads meet the standards, or could see all advertising across their sites blocked in Chrome.

It's like a crackdown on site owners who use bad advertising practices, by abusing AdWords/AdSense.

 

[Arequire]

I'm split on this. I'm glad Google is trying to give the online advertising industry a push in a better direction but I can see a conflict of interest arising. A for-profit company who's existence is reliant on online advertising developing an ad blocker. Ad blocking's already been labelled completely legal multiple times so what's to stop Google blocking competitors ads or following in the footsteps of that miserable excuse of a company Eyeo and forcing companies to pay to have their ads unblocked. Opera does this with its built-in ad blocker too; accepting money from Baidu, Facebook, Google and Yandex to have their ads unblocked on their sites. It was a scumbag move when Eyeo did it and it's still a scumbag move when Opera's doing it. I hope Google doesn't go the same route.

 

[jamescv7]

Adblocking component is not a bad idea, it promotes security and privacy.

But the process behind for adblocking is literally a serious issue here, hence result for possible one-sided criteria of blocking.

We should all know that Google is not only an internet service company but also aligned in advertising, which information on tracking is important for continuous revenues.

Not surprise if the adblocking may not be so effective or only blocks certain elements.

 

[Cohen]

If this happens, I wonder if Google could get into legal trouble for "sabotaging" other companies' revenue sources.
If they go through with this, they'll naturally favour certain advertising from themselves which is a significant portion of advertising on the internet; ad-blockers like uBlock Origin and Adblock Plus will still be necessary.

 

[frogboy]

I think I will stick with uBlock Origin it works for me fairly well.

 

[Winter Soldier]

I am using Adguard and then problem solved

 

[codswollip]

In other words, site owners may be required to ensure all of their ads meet the standards, or could see all advertising across their sites blocked in Chrome.

In other words... Google AdWords