Google’s Big Ad-Blocking Update Comes to Chrome Tomorrow

[Becky]

Last year, Google announced that they were planning to block low-quality online adverts through their browser, Chrome, and true to their word this change comes into force tomorrow. Gizmodo has more:

Along with its fellow ad giant Facebook, Google is a member of the Coalition for Better Ads, an industry group that has performed research on what forms of web advertising annoys people the most. It’s created a list of the 12 types of web experiences that should ideally be avoided by advertisers. Now Google is going to enforce that list with Chrome, which is used by over half of all people accessing the web with a browser.

Read more here.

Adverts are the main way that websites can cover their costs - the alternative is paid-for subscriptions which are always unpopular. However, it's common to see spammy or misleading adverts on websites, which create an unpleasant browsing experience for users. What do you think about Chrome blocking adverts? Let us know your thoughts!

 

[V_R]

Chrome for mobile needs this, Ads on your phone are a nightmare, and adblockers on Android, unless you're rooted, can be hit or miss.

Desktop I just use Ublock Origin.

 

[muckshifter]

it'll probably be as good as telling your postman not to post flyers ... ineffective.

 

[V_R]

I wonder when this starts to have more of an affect whether we will see a rise of cryptocurrency mining?

Like this example I was reading about last night....

Salon.com has a new, cryptocurrency-driven strategy for making money when readers block ads. If you want to read Salon without seeing ads, you can do so—as long as you let the website use your spare computing power to mine some coins.

If you visit Salon with an ad blocker enabled, you might see a pop-up that asks you to disable the ad blocker or "Block ads by allowing Salon to use your unused computing power."

https://arstechnica.com/information...n-we-use-your-browser-to-mine-cryptocurrency/

Oh and I'll save you the bother, that website is a terrible place, its mostly a US politics website.

 

[Becky]

I wonder when this starts to have more of an affect whether we will see a rise of cryptocurrency mining?

I hadn't realised they did that, but mind you I never visit Salon because it's so awful. I hope this isn't a trend!

 

[V_R]

They're not the first, I think one of the popular P2P sites did it for a while too, but I've seen it more and more as time goes on.

 

[Becky]

Ugh. It's annoying because sites have got to cover their costs somehow, but some take it too far and it really impacts the user experience. That being said, I'd much rather have ads than pay a subscription.