[Infowarrior] - Google Plans Ad-Blocking Feature in Popular Chrome Browser

[Richard Forno]

Google Plans Ad-Blocking Feature in Popular Chrome Browser
Jack Marshall
April 19, 2017 7:07 p.m. ET

https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-plans-ad-blocking-feature-in-popular-chrome-browser-1492643233

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.

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-plans-ad-blocking-feature-in-popular-chrome-browser-1492643233