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Free News Sites Step Up Pleas for Consumers to Disable Adblocking Software

posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday December 23 2020, @12:33AM   Printer-friendly

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Free news sites step up pleas for consumers to disable adblocking software:

If your web browser has recently updated, or you've loaded some new browser extensions, you may be seeing a message when you visit certain free content sites.If your web browser has recently updated, or you've loaded some new browser extensions, you may be seeing a message when you visit certain free content sites.

"Please support journalism by allowing ads," one of the pop-up messages reads.

In the message, there is a large link that will disable the adblocker extension in your browser. There is a smaller link that will allow you to proceed to the site while continuing to block ads.

Dominic Chorafakis, with the cybersecurity consulting firm Akouto, says adblocking extensions aren't exactly new, but it's possible browsers have strengthened them in recent updates.

"Sites that rely on ad revenue, of course, don't like this at all, and there is quite a bit of effort being put in from their side to detect when a visitor has adblocking in place and either ask them politely to disable adblocking or outright prevent them from viewing their content unless they disable it," Chorafakis told ConsumerAffairs.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by MadTinfoilHatter on Wednesday December 23 2020, @06:50AM (1 child)

    by MadTinfoilHatter (4635) on Wednesday December 23 2020, @06:50AM (#1090594)

    I don't see enough advertisements to form much of an opinion, but pharma is well represented in what I do see.

    In the Nordic countries (possibly also other parts of Europe - not sure) they've solved this issue rather nicely. Pharmaceutical advertising is quite restricted. Prescription medication may only be advertised in publications aimed at those who prescribe it (i.e. medical professionals) and not to the general public. This also reduces the problem of morons demanding antibiotics for their virus-caused flu, which causes overconsumption of antibiotics, which causes antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains to pop up...

    Starting Score:    1  point
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    Total Score:   5  

  • (Score: 2, Informative) by hemocyanin on Wednesday December 23 2020, @08:40AM

    by hemocyanin (186) on Wednesday December 23 2020, @08:40AM (#1090611) Journal

    It wasn't ridiculous in the US until 1997 when the FDA made it easier to advertise directly to consumers too. Undoubtedly, the lobbying money or bribe laundering (speaking fees, book deals, conferences in Aruba, etc.) paid off handsomely for bigPharma.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct-to-consumer_advertising#United_States [wikipedia.org]