Google is paying AdBlock to unblock their ads

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ad block

If you’re a savvy internet user you’re probably using some sort of ad blocker (though hopefully not on your favorite sites). The most popular ad blocker is called AdBlock Plus, which boasts over 300 million downloads worldwide. That’s a lot of advertising dollars that are going unseen by internet users. Google, along with Amazon, Microsoft and Taboola, have decided to do something about it.

The Financial Times is reporting that these companies have paid AdBlock Plus to allow their ads to pass through the blocking software. AdBlock makes money by allowing companies to pay for their ads to go unblocked as long as they comply with AdBlock’s “acceptable ads” policy. It’s unclear whether Google and co. are simply abiding by this policy or just throwing money around to get their way.

Obviously a service such as AdBlock Plus is a big threat to Google, a company who makes a lot of money on online advertising. In 2013 Google even removed the AdBlock app from the Play Store. Everyone hates to see ads, but often times they are the only thing keeping a website alive. A lawsuit against AdBlock is currently being considered by the French Internet Advertising Bureau.

Where do you stand on this issue? Should companies be able to pay for their ads to go unblocked? Should ad blockers even be allowed? Do you use AdBlock, and do you whitelist your favorite sites?

Joe Fedewa
Ever since I flipped open my first phone I've been obsessed with the devices. I've dabbled in other platforms, but Android is where I feel most at home.

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146 Comments

  1. I get ads keep websites alive, and I’m ok with that until they hinder the experience of the site (and site owners shouldn’t be ok with that either).

    But at least give us the option to go ad-free. There are a lot of sites where I’d gladly pay a few bucks a month for an ad-free experience… *cough* gmail *cough*.

    1. Yeah, giving consumers the option to pay would be great. If Phandroid had that option I’d happily pay for a subscription.

      1. They do. Look in the settings.

        1. I think you’re talking about the app, I’m talking about the webpage here.

          1. Ah my mistake.

      2. Honestly, I would not pay. There is enough free, I can find any info I need elsewhere for free.

        Plus, you say it is ok if this site charges, than what about the 20 others you like? 1 maybe not so bad…. 20 you like and suddenly, pay is a no go.

        I have visited websites, news sites, that force you to signup and pay or just signup to see their content… bwaaa ha ha LOL yeah, right. Bye bye.

        1. No you misunderstood me, I think there’s a language gap here.

          I was saying to REMOVE ads, not to view the website altogether. I’m not talking about a pay wall. I’m just talking about paying for a subscription to remove all ads. That’s it.

          1. Ah.. ok.. still, I wouldnt pay to do it. I would just use adblock and block them as best I could. There is very little content worthy of paying for on the web as someone else will always serve it free and thus, I would not pay to remove ads. I would just move on if it became an either/or scenario.

            Again, i get it is a revenue stream to the site. But, that does not mean I have to play along. So, I don’t.

          2. Yeah of course, you do what you like. In my opinion the content they offer here and the way they report on stories is worth paying a pittance to support. That’s just me.

  2. I don’t use any ad blocking and I don’t really have a problem with them in theory. I’m not a big fan of some video playing automatically on a web page. I usually have a lot of tabs open and find it annoying to have to track down which one is playing the ad that’s talking over whatever I’m streaming.

    I have no problem with in-video commercials you get on Youtube or Blip.tv. Given the content time vs. ad time, it’s much better that traditional TV. I do wish the ads were mixed up a bit. Seeing the same commercial over and over for a month can’t really be a good business model. People will tune it out.

    1. You can disable auto play by disabling the option to auto play videos that use flash player.

  3. am I the only one who does not mind the ad stuff?? everyone needs to make money…I hate the tracking part of it so they can tell which ads to really show. I know Phandroid needs to make income, or else I would lose out on a great site. But pleeeeease help me out here, every time I visit your site at work, there is a chick at the bottom right with cleavage showing haha.

    1. I don’t mind the cleavage, I mind the fact it sometimes links me to a story like 2 years old. THAT is more annoying than boobies in my face.

      Plus, those are not really ads.

      1. haha hey hey I dont mind it either….just not in between 7-4 lol. But yeah, you’re right, when you go to the link, its something completely random from 56 years ago.

  4. *TL;DR* Don’t forget to whitelist phandroid.com* and androidforums.com*

    I use adblock and I whitelist my favorite sites. Content providers and developers need paid too. If we blocked their means of monetization, their content and products would go away. And well, that would just leave me sad.

    1. or sad ;) and me too. ads are not bad, just annoying some times.

      1. Nooooo you replied before I fixed my typo! ;)

        1. haha I’m sorry! wanted to be “cool”

    2. Have y’all thought about offering a subscription to remove ads? I’d pay for one.

      1. That is definitely an interesting topic of discussion. We do offer a subscription method for our Android app, which removes ads.

        1. It’s funny, I’m a big mobile device user but I almost always surf Phandroid on my laptop. Actually, most websites to be honest. That’s why I like the idea of a subscription. I enjoy the content whilst supporting the folks that give it to me.

        2. I usually view Phandroid from a desktop or laptop browser. I’d paid a subscription to remove the ads, as long as it also removed the annoying box that pops up in the lower right that recommends old articles I read years ago.

  5. (All) Ad’s themselves aren’t inherently bad. The bad one’s are just that, bad. The ad’s that pop up, the ad’s that block what you’re seeing, the ad’s that require you to click through and even worse the click through and open up another one or a new tab. Those are the ad’s I’m thankful to AdBlocker for. Google’s ad’s while nowhere near as intrusive, tend get stale after while or as in the case of Gmail on Android, poorly placed. (Ever been in a hurry or have OCD about your inbox and accidentally hit one on your phone?) Until I get the experience I want on the mediums and devices that I pay for, AdBlock is well worth paying for to block whatever I CHOOSE to be blocked – Google or otherwise.

  6. I very much hope that this is specifically for YouTube. I understand Google wants all their ad’s shown. But YouTube specifically is hit hard by this as typically the content creators only source of revenue is YouTube.

  7. I Don’t use an Adblock as i agree they need to make money but some sites are ridiculous with the amount of ads they place on their sites. Too many ads on the site and i wont go back, hence they don’t make money off me anyway, no need to use Adblock.

  8. I use AdBlock, and goddamn it is useful. Skipping ads on online videos too! Even the ads that do pass through can be blocked manually.

  9. As long as AdAway is left alone …

    1. Exactly. Adblock lost me when I found out they open up their filters if websites/adco’s pay them. F that.

  10. I use it, I havent whitelisted anything though because I am lazy.

    I dont mind if legit sites paid to get around it because I am hoping its reasonable. Its the annoying sites that caused this. Like DRM on movies its forced me to cheat because some sites are so bloated with ads or make them so annoying (or their scripts fail, causing tabs to hang). Beyond the ads just using adblock has made the user experience much better. If sites went away from pop-ups, stupid animated ads, or loading ads above content so the stuff is moving all over the place while waiting for the ad server to catch up then I wouldnt use it.

  11. I understand the necessary evil that is ad revenue, especially for sites such as this and the many amazing content creators on YouTube, for example. However, I use any and every ad blocker possible and do so indiscriminatingly. I have no tolerance for ads and avoid, as much as possible, anything that contains them. I don’t have cable, I skip the early preamble at movies, I don’t read magazines or listen to the radio, etc, etc. I’ll continue to do so, even if it requires additional effort and/or utilities to do it.

  12. I use Ad Block Plus for a reason, I want content not incessant ads. Any ads I do get I add to my filters, plus I ad that company to my block list including shopping there. But I do not think Ad Block that promises to block ads should “let some through” for money. Guess I will go looking for another ad blocker.

    1. Open AdBlock Plus’ options and uncheck “allow some non-intrusive advertising”. Problem solved.

    2. Let me know if you find a good one, please. :-D

  13. I go out of my way to NOT buy anything from an ad

  14. http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/android-tapsnake-mobile-scareware-ads-push-antivirus

    And from our own Rob Jackson –

    “While it sucks this is happening on an “Android Help Forum” as others have noted this problem isn’t limited to us. And ironically or not, Google is to blame. They recently suffered an Adwords exploit that has caused this issue.

    Here’s an article on the topic:
    http://www.itproportal.com/2015/01/16/google-adwords-adsense-networks-hacked/

    We’re hoping Google has since fixed this issue but we’ll continue to monitor. I would presume XDA and other sites are having the same issue and it is difficult to duplicate because you can’t force the infected ads to show. We’ll attack this on monday if google hasn’t yet patched the problem.”

    So, I’ll stop ad blocking when Google cleans its own house and ads stop being a major malware invection vector.

    Ads I can take or leave – hijacked browsers I can’t.

  15. I actually don’t use any ad blockers on my phone or PC. However I am firmly against offensive ads; meaning pop ups, videos, or anything that causes a website to not run smoothly. What I do is I stop visiting those sites, or I uninstall the app. I’m not messing with ad blockers, but I am sure as hell not messing with bs ads either. phandroid.com and androidforums.com are fine. androidauthority.com unfortunately is one of the offenders I do not visit anymore. A few weeks ago their mobile site started loading pop up ads that cover the whole screen until you click it away. And it’s very slow so it happens in the middle of reading. phandroid.com really *does* need to do something about the “we have an android app!” pop up though, it’s getting very annoying. It happens every single time I visit and hey, I’m sorry but I do not want the app.

    1. I agree, sites have a responsibility to make sure the ads are unobtrusive enough not to get in the way of their users.
      If a site is rendered irritating to use because of it’s ads I stop going to that site or using the app.

  16. Now, that is some bullshit!

  17. Ads are necessary to keep free sites alive, ad blockers shouldn’t be allowed particularly in an ad revenue oriented markets like google play. I don’t use ad blockers for that reason.
    I have been known to pay for the premium version of an app to do away with ads, because that it fair and it gets the developers paid. Words with friends I gladly paid 99 cents to remove ads from.

    Now this is going to sound a bit hypocritical, but if I didn’t have those moral qualms with ad blockers, why would I use an ad blocker program that made money by making exceptions for certain ads?
    They take money to make their app less useful for their users, say whatever you will about ads themselves but the money these ad blockers are making off advertisers is just plain sick and wrong. I’d never support that.

    1. I’ll agree, but with HTML5 some ads are virus-like in how they modify a page with animated content.

      Any website that doesn’t use a friendly adserver, blocked.

      I turn my adblocker off for sites I want to support, but if a bad ad comes up, back on the list and I’ll never consider turning it off again.

      1. Agreed, additonally ads are not only virus-like, but in some cases do in fact act as an attack vector for browser based exploits. For me, ad blocking is more a matter of security than not just wantin to be troubled with annoying ads.

      2. I believe you but haven’t really encountered it. any site that is abusive with ads I just stop visiting usually.

    2. Choice… choice IS allowed. Thus, ad blockers will and should ALWAYS be allowed.

      Your logic is like the people that want to sue Dish for having an ad blocking DVR function. Or for the laws they wanted to propose – as preposterous as it sounds – to not allow you to FF or skip commercials. As though you must be forced to interact with the ads.

      Anyone who has the right to put up an ad, I have the right to block it and not see it and not deal with it. You cannot have your right – show the ad – and not give me my right – block or not watch the ad. You no like? Make a pay site.

  18. Is this for AdBlock? or AdBlock Plus? Either way…one of these are leaving my browser.

  19. I consider ads – especially pop up ads and flashing, animated ads to be invasive. Because of this, I do use an ad blocker and ithe thought of AdBlock taking money to let certain ads though is abhorrent to me. That seems more like ransom.

  20. Use Adblock Edge on your browser…and on your mobile device you can install Adaway from here:https://sufficientlysecure.org/index.php/adaway/

  21. Here’s a market-based solution:
    Adblock Free: Blocks ads that are not “premium” and meet their guidliness
    Adblock Paid: Pay a fee to block all ads, including those that Google pays to let through the free version. Have part of that fee go to the ad providers to, essentially the opposite of a subscription service, you’re paying to NOT get content.

    1. No.

  22. AFAIK, AdBlock always whitelisted Google’s unobtrusive text ads by default. You had to specifically block them.

    AdBlock for Chrome and AdAway for rooted phones (available at f-droid.org after google banned it).

  23. I can deal with banner ads, but I can not deal with pop-up ads. And it seems that they are starting to come back in style, especially in apps and mobile browsers. You really can not blame users for blocking them when they are so aggravating to deal with.

  24. i currently have both installed. either way, one of them is going bye bye as soon i start seeing ads

  25. I don’t mind ads, I understand that somebody has to pay. It’s the dancing Flash ads that I hate.

    1. I HATE flash ads. Ugh!! My laptop is already sub-par with today’s laptops, and that giant shockwave ad isn’t helping. I would click a link and this horrible ad would pop up. I just force close the tab. I don’t even give the website the time of day.

      1. Flash is dying and YouTube helped put one of the final nails in the coffin with HTML 5.

        And BTW, with an animated gif or HTML 5, the same type of ads and movement are possible and without plugins. So, that aspect is not going to stop.

  26. So when are they releasing a version for Google Glass / Oculus Rift / Gear VR / Cardboard? So that it takes the feed from the camera and wordlens-style removes it from the screen. Replacing it with a wall, white space or something else that doesn’t catch anyone’s eye?

    :D

  27. Adaway is just 1 good reason to root your phone.

    On desktop and tablet and laptop I use adblock.

    I will always do all I can to block all ads (and commercials) of any kind. They can try to sell it, does not mean I have to see it.

    1. Agreed!

  28. I think everyone should have the choice to block the ads if they want to, it is not up to Google & Co.

  29. Someone needs to make technology to block the ads and network bugs that run at the bottoms and corners of our TV’s constantly. I would pay BIG money for that just to F the annoying marketers.

  30. I don’t mind ads. Its just those ads that have NO relevance to me that annoys me. I let Google have my info, so I wanna see some ads that I would actually click on. Like now on this website, I’m seeing a lot of EDM concert ads. And yes, I’ve clicked on some. =.P

    I’m looking for a hotel room for Anime Matsuri, and guess what shows up? Some hotel ads. Though the Anime Matsuri rate is pretty much unbeatable.

    Then I go to a website and this giant ad for low fat foods show up. Like I’m a skinny human who eats fast food, why would I be looking to “lose weight? Ugh!!

    1. So if you mind the fact that the ads are not relevant, but you don’t mind ads, then you are down with tracking as the only way to give you relevant ads is to drop and cookie and track you.

      I dont want ANY ads, relevant or not.

      1. Yea, I want ads. Its how I find out about things. If someone knows I like video games, then give me some ads on new game deals at GameStop. I don’t randomly decide to check GameStop to see if they have a deal. That’ll add to my web browsing time. I spend my time reading articles. If I see an ad that interest me, I can open it in a new tab and check it later. Its not always on my mind to go check those things.
        I guess ads are like little reminders to check this or that out.

        Like I said, I let Google get my info, so I want relevant ads. It’s a tradeoff I expect. My info is valuable, so use it right, or you get no money.

        1. Huh.. wow…. I never find out about anything valuable – ever – by an ad. Ever. By a story, a thread post, a forum, a news bit yes.. by an Ad…. nope.

          1. LoL!! Yea. Since Google has all the info about me to make a successful clone, the ads are see are quite relevant and I click them all the time.

            For example, there was a YouTube ad about this movie coming out called Seventh Son. Never heard of it or searched it, but Google knew I’d like a movie like that, so they showed the ad. Didn’t even watch the video I went to see. I clicked the link for the ad to go find out more about the movie. LoL!!

  31. I paid (donated) for AdBlock. As such, I think it’s unethical allow some adds through simply because an advertiser is also paying. If I were an advertiser I would consider this extortion.

    1. Is it in the fine print in Adblock? Are they telling you that some ads still go through? If so, then I hate to say it, but that’s on you for not reading.

    2. And as a payer of AdBlock plus, I would consider I just got scammed as this was not in the TOS when I donated.

      1. You can turn off these paid ads with ABP.

  32. Anyone know a good blocking app besides adblock plus?

  33. More and more reasons to uninstall AdBlock/ABP and to install µBlock.

    Not only works better, it also consumes much less resources.

    https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/%C2%B5block/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm?hl=es

    1. You know that ABP lets you turn off the paid ads, right?

      1. Yes, but uBlock still works much better and consumes less resources.

  34. I like the app, but feel a little guilty using it, especially for my favorite sites. Some of my favorite site, I white listed them so the ads come through.

    1. Guilty?

      Wow, I cannot even get down with that logic. So, if you felt guilty, did you click on their ads and buy the product? Because if not, what good is just letting the ads be there and feeling guilty about it. Showing you the ad, relative to the benefit to the site, is not beneficial. You clicking the ads and converting is the benefit. So, if you don’t use the products, just allowing them to show you the ad is not helping them in any way and as a matter of fact, if they pay by impression, one could argue you are hurting them as they are paying to server an ad you have zero likelihood of ever clicking or converting.

      Ads blow, commercials blow, they inundate the world with garbage and nonsense, let them die off.

      1. There are some ads that are “Pay Per View” and others “Pay Per Click”. Pay Per View ads generate the content developer money even if users do not click the ad.

        As far as Ads “blow”ing. They do not. If great sites like Phandroid were to stop using ads and try to survive on a subscription model, they would die. Same goes for YouTube, Facebook, Google.. pretty much most of the major sites on the web.

        Better to say Ads are annoying, but indirectly they make the web a better place.

      2. The websites make the money for hosting the ads and getting views. I presume they make more if their ad gets hits. Why wouldn’t I want the sites I frequent to profit from their efforts? Just because I see an ad doesn’t mean I have to click it. If I never see the ad, I’ll never be enticed to click it. If the websites don’t generate cash to support themselves. The logic of feeling guilty for not helping the sites I visit isn’t questionable. Your logic of having ads die off, would also cause a lot of the internet content to die.

  35. I just opt out of everything I can, then let the rest through. By the time I deleted facebook I wasn’t even seeing ads in English anymore. I think it should be a user-by-user basis.

  36. Ads are only effective on 2 to 3% of the public, so the rest of the 97-98% have to suffer because of it.
    I don’t buy any product because of ads it may run, ads are annoying I abhor them and will go to any length to stop them. Find those 2-3% and target them and leave the rest of us alone.

    1. Ads worked well for Samsung lol

      1. No they don’t.

        1. Even if you don’t run out and buy a company’s product when you see their ad, they’re still building name/brand recognition. When you go the store to shop for X, you’re far more likely to buy X from a company you’ve heard of than a company you’ve never heard of.

        2. Then explain how Samsung has such a large market share compared to other phone makers. Are their phones really that much better? Debatable. The ads are better at making a very large number of people think that they are though.

          1. TV ads…not intrusive web ads

          2. I was just talking about ads in general. They work.

          3. Because since the Galaxy series, their phones HAVE been better. It’s only been the last year or two LG and HTC have finally caught up IMO. Most people if they buy this level of phone read reviews and check them out side by side in the store, not because of ads IME.

  37. To clarify the subject at hand better … https://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads

    It seems that Adblockplus is trying to bridge the ‘rights’ of both sides by creating a default whitelist. As long as the ads are non-obtrusive they are allowable. BUT … and it’s a big old but, the desktop Chrome extension and Android side loadable app both allow you to turn the official whitelist off with a simple toggle, blocking all ads. So it is hard to complain at all. They also allow you to ad more whitelist sites if you choose to support your favorite sites.

  38. I don’t mind ad banners.

    What I do mind are the fucking popups that disrupt what you’re reading.

  39. I don’t block ads because I don’t want to see them (mostly, there are some sites that are blanketed with ads that are annoying as hell).

    I block ads because I work in a business that sees advertisements on even legitimate web sites like CNN.com and many others with ads that have malware in them. Part of my company’s job is to identify machines infected with malware and figure out where it was obtained. A lot of the times, it’s some ad on a legit web site and the legit web site has no idea they are allowing their visitors to be infected by malware because of their careless decisions. This is why I block ads and it’s why I recommend everyone block them.

    If sites want to make money with ads, they need to ensure the safety of their visitors first.

  40. And you didn’t believe me when I said google is more evil than apple;)
    At this rate, I’m going to run out of companies to support. Damn you, google.

    1. How is Apple evil?

      1. Someone who is struggling to move on from yesteryears issues.

    2. It’s not necessarily evil of google. smart actually. The plus side of this is that once they start paying adblock plus some other dev will make something as good if not better. Let them keep trying. ;)

    3. I don’t consider that evil on Google’s part. AdBlock Plus has given advertisers this option for awhile now. As long as Google is sticking to ABP’s rules as to what is acceptable, I don’t think they’re doing anything wrong.

  41. Man the hell with GOOGLE. That was the best APP in the GOOGLE Play store. ADS do nothing but slows down the web browser or won’t close until I close the browser :@

    1. Luckily it is available elsewhere.

    2. Yeah, right.

      1. I think there are way too many websites as it is…just like channels on cable. I would say let it all go if websites are only sustainable with the use of ADs. The whole internet system and the use of ADs are a broken system to begin with and with all those pop-ups and intrusive ADs and malware links past and present, that is what has led us all to AD-blocking software to begin with.

        1. Ciao!

      2. Content dude, not bullshit. Never ONCE have I clicked on an ad. On mobile they cost ME money. Cry me a river if all these websites go down because they suck. Btw 90%? You’re freaking HIGH. Also, this is NOT the 90’s anymore. Hard drive space and hosting is DIRT CHEAP.

        1. Adios!

          1. Most websites I visit never had ads to start with. Many still don’t but that’s me. Most sites I’ve ran or been involved with were paid for by the “Core Business” What a shocker! Obviously costs vary, but for $8/mo you can get hosting with UNLIMITED Space, Bandwidth, and Traffic with a top tier provider. If your website isn’t worth $8/mo, GOOD RIDDANCE! So let’s rephrase it (For your wittle feelwings) : If you think the cost of hosting is expensive, you’re not just Freakin High, you might even be……..WRONG. So if you can’t live without irrelevant, intrusive, distracting, bandwidth sucking, security compromising, malware spreading ads, chances are the world won’t miss you. If your site isn’t worth $100/yr, maybe it doesn’t need to be out there. ;)

          2. Bye

          3. Spare us. Bully for you you need a private server so you can sail sail away LOL. You do NOT fall in that “90%” statistic you love to cite. Guess it’s not interesting enough to warrant a subscription eh? For something that niche, it should! Unless you’re Amazon, using common scripting languages, having a clue how to develop and code with competent dB integration and normal drive space (Let’s say under 1TB) and processor requirements should work just fine for the “90%” sites. The bottom line is: With a few exceptions, it’s really just not that expensive anymore.

          4. That’s much better… You’re much more credible when you act more mature, not talking trash like a spoiled teenager.

            I don’t go the subscription route for several reasons… I feel the web should be a free and open place, like it was when I started using it back in the 90s.

            Another reason is that it’s almost impossible to police subscriptions, especially when the boats that use my services are constantly moving around, changing countries and IPs all the time.

            It’s better to let a few rich companies pay for it so that everybody, even the cruising families living on tight budgets, can use my weather forecasts to help assure their safety while at sea.

            The server and the rest of it isn’t expensive by any means, but it takes a fair bit of my time and I need to pay the rent and feed my kids…

            You don’t work for free, do you?… Why should I have to?

          5. Again.

  42. i am ok with ads, but only if they contain no popups, no animations, no flash and none of that underline popup crap. I started using adblock before because of the nsfw crap that would come through. I left adblock when they said they were going to do this and now are on ublock. works better than adblock

    1. That’s the funny thing. Google and others will pay companies like Adblock but then people will just move to another adblock software.

  43. So, will these paid to unblock add fall into the “allow some non-intrusive advertising,” that is found in extension’s filter preferences, and be able to turn these off too or will we have no choice but view these??

    1. Yes, it falls under the “allow some non-intrusive advertising” option. Uncheck that, and you won’t see them.

  44. Advertisers abused their ability to advertise and consumers got sick of it. As long as the advertisements are non-intrusive, I don’t need adblock.

    Until advertisers come to their senses and get rid of these, i’m going to do everything within my power to block them all.

    1. Exactly. If advertisers didn’t make them as obnoxious and intrusive as possible, I would not block them. But pop ups that hover over the site and automatically play audio are beyond bounds of reason. Or if sites overuse banner ads where 1/3 of the page is ads is ridiculous. Have reasonable ad practices, and people won’t hate them so much.

  45. I generally don’t mind google ads, like most here Its pop-ups and flash ads (including auto starting video ads) that bother me. If Ad Block has an option to for google to pay to get around the filter I can hardly blame google for taking that option.

    I don’t care enough to switch adblockers at present, but if it becomes a problem I’ll switch to something, if enough people switch adblock with just die off and this won’t matter.

    1. The auto start video ads are the worst because often if your volume is low or muted and you have gone to a webpage and scrolled down or tabbed to another page the ad continue to download and chew up your bandwidth.

      1. Get NoScript. It stops auto start video. Word

    2. They’ve had this ‘feature’ for about 5 months already and it can be disabled with a single tickbox in the options

  46. I like the internet, not the adternet.

  47. Meu cu né foda

  48. Money talks! Just like how Yelp charges companies to hide 1-star ratings.

  49. Banning the software is impossible. The governments can’t even stop piracy so how the hell are they going to ban an app/application/plugin that is not even stealing someone elses intellectual property….dumb asses.

  50. So is it both makers? You mention two different ones. AdBlock and AdBlock Plus. They are two totally different extensions.

  51. This ONLY applies to Adblock Plus, not Adblock as mentioned in the title. Also the article image is Adblock’s icon, not Adblock Plus.

  52. Old news… No new stories to write about?

  53. Goodbye AdBlock Plus.

  54. This is bullshit.

  55. Not worth it.

    1. Are you willing to take responsibility for malware delivered via your ad network?

      1. Yes.

        1. Those are the worst. Your site deserves to die.

    2. Ads just help plug up the pipe if your on a slow connection. Are your advertisers going to subsidize a better connection to my house so i can view ads? Or pay for a portion of my mobile data? I can tolerate a few ads, but too many and I will stop using a site altogether.

      1. ^^^This

    3. who cares about your site? if you go down, there is always somebody to take your place. Deal with it, learn how to manage.

    4. I run a site and refuse to allow ads on it as they ruin my readers experience. Find another way to make money – sell services or products, but do it honestly.

    5. I think it’s more of an issue on sites that lose adsense. Without the high pay of adsense, people are more likely to get more questionable ad campaigns to even come close. This encourages more people who visit the site to use ad blocking tools.

    6. Sites use too many ads, and they are usually intrusive. When they get in the way and slow the scrolling, they are getting blocked.

    7. sites that abuse the user have caused this harm – and the owners can’t be held accountable.

      on a fresh OS install i generally live without adblocking software till my first search for something really niche – then BOOM i’m sifting through sites i’m not familiar with and may never return to, but i have the entire experience slowed to craptastic speeds, popups, ads pretending to be windows system updates (despite browsing from a linux or chromeos box), etc. once that happens i install an adblocker and forget about it (all the while cursing the crappier sites that caused the problem in the first place)

      i very rarely get around to whitelisting any particular websites; this is more about being lazy then anything else.

      a “nice” adblocker ought to block all ads for the first visit each day to any sites, then block only the truly annoying ones (those that take focus away from the actual content, a subjective thing in some cases but clear as hell in others) for each additional visit to such a site. finally, if you visit a particular site many times a month the adblocker ought to ASK if you’re willing to unblock ads on that site. perhaps in the same manner as the manual ad blocking features are normally presented, a slider “drag the handle to the right as far as you are willing; if their are too many ads then feel free to drag back to the left a notch; you can adjust this at any time”.

      would people use this? i know i would, just as long as the core functionality (protecting me from the crappiest of the internet’s advertising mechanisms) was SOLID and the request to enable ads on sites i frequented was itself not written in language meant to shame me into doing anything.

  56. just ignore the update… still wurks fine.

  57. This is a non-story as you can set AdBlock Plus to block all ads regardless.

    1. You should read it again. You failed to comprehend.

      1. Adblock has an option that allows you to see ads that comply with their “acceptable ads” policy, if you turn this off, though, it will block all ads. Even if there’s an ad that isn’t being blocked, you can block it yourself by selecting the “block element” option from the adblock settings and picking the ad.

        1. @ericjamessalcido:disqus @tim242:disqus This is exactly what I’m referring to. I have no problem with ABP selling acceptable ads passes, as long as I can still block anything via a setting within the add-on/extension. No story here.

  58. If I wanted ads I would watch tv,which I have not done in 14 years

  59. While I don’t like ads, I understand that companies like Google really survive on ads and that’s why they can give us so many apps for free.

  60. adtrap rocks.

  61. There’s always ublock as an alternatie.

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