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from the that's-a-nice-ad-you-have-there dept.
Critics wary as Google's Chrome begins an ad crackdown
On Thursday, Google will begin using its Chrome browser to eradicate ads it deems annoying or otherwise detrimental to users. It just so happens that many of Google's own most lucrative ads will sail through its new filters. The move, which Google first floated back in June, is ostensibly aimed at making online advertising more tolerable by flagging sites that run annoying ads such as ones that auto-play video with sound. And it's using a big hammer: Chrome will start blocking all ads — including Google's own — on offending sites if they don't reform themselves.
There's some irony here, given that Google's aim is partly to convince people to turn off their own ad-blocking software. These popular browser add-ons deprive publishers (and Google) of revenue by preventing ads from displaying.
Google vice president Rahul Roy-Chowdhury wrote in a blog post that the company aims to keep the web healthy by "filtering out disruptive ad experiences."
But the company's motives and methods are both under attack. Along with Facebook, Google dominates the online-advertising market; together they accounted for over 63 percent of the $83 billion spent on U.S. digital ads last year, according to eMarketer. Google is also virtually synonymous with online search, and Chrome is the most popular browser on the web, with a roughly 60 percent market share. So to critics, Google's move looks less like a neighborhood cleanup than an assertion of dominance.
Is this Google's antitrust moment? (Is this a recycled comment?)
- Under the hood: How Chrome's ad filtering works
- The Initial Better Ads Standards
- Exclusive: Industry Experts On The Impact Of Google Chrome's Ad Blocker
Previously: Google Preparing to Filter "Unacceptable Ads" in 2018
Google Chrome to Begin Blocking "Non-Compliant Ads" on Feb. 15
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 15 2018, @09:25PM (3 children)
Just the ruling class trying to control who can make money from internet content and who cannot.
I guarantee disruptive ads will include certainly some of the worst offenders, but it will also happen to be that ads for companies that aren't international monopolies are "disruptive." It's the same way that independent news sites, usually those with a political bias on the left and a penchant for criticism of the D team, were included with fake news when Google wanted to curate their News product.
I'm just wondering how long it'll be until ISPs start charging insane fees to access the larger internet outside of
AmericaGoogle Online keywords.Google won't be shooting themselves in the foot. They and others made sure that the web suffers so horribly from the inner platform effect that it's impossible for anybody who isn't bankrolled by a megacorp to create an independent rendering engine.
I wish I knew what could be done about it.
Computing technology evolved too fast for the common person to understand.
But it could be that the common person is happy being a cow. Plus, there is vastly more censorship coming before the ruling class can start World War 3, and... you know? I think most people want it to happen.
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Thursday February 15 2018, @10:01PM
There's really no pleasing some people. This change is good for users, remember?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 15 2018, @10:35PM (1 child)
"We have always been at war with Syrania."
(Score: 3, Touché) by captain normal on Friday February 16 2018, @12:56AM
Ahh...yes. The next World War will be against Anonymous Cowards.
When life isn't going right, go left.