Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Thursday February 15 2018, @07:51PM   Printer-friendly
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?)

Previously: Google Preparing to Filter "Unacceptable Ads" in 2018
Google Chrome to Begin Blocking "Non-Compliant Ads" on Feb. 15


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by leftover on Thursday February 15 2018, @10:29PM (1 child)

    by leftover (2448) on Thursday February 15 2018, @10:29PM (#638479)

    Precedent established in a trial funded by deep pockets would enable inexpensive and low risk suits by small fry. It is a very big deal in the US.

    --
    Bent, folded, spindled, and mutilated.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 16 2018, @01:27AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 16 2018, @01:27AM (#638575)

    I don't understand what needs a precedent.