Google is developing its own ad blocker for Chrome

By , Matthew Humphries

Published April 20, 2017

File photo: Sundar Pichai, former senior vice president of Google Chrome and current Google CEO, speaks during Google I/O Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California June 28, 2012. (REUTERS/Stephen Lam)

Regardless of which web browser you use, ad blocking is available through plug-ins or browser extensions. They are here to stay, with any moves made to render them useless by online publishers soon overcome. Google's revenue comes from advertising, meaning ad blocking is most certainly on its radar. So you may be surprised to hear the search giant is developing its own ad blocker for Chrome.

This isn't a typical ad blocker, though. Google would rather you didn't block any of its adverts, but at the same time, it doesn't want users having a bad experience with poor advertising. And that's where this ad blocker comes in. According to The Wall Street Journal, Google's ad blocker would focus on adverts "beneath a threshold of consumer acceptability."

Examples of below threshold advertising include auto-play videos with audio, pop-ups, and prestitial ads that delay access to a site's content using a countdown counter. And there's bound to be many more types.

Google is still experimenting with the ad blocking system and could choose to shelve it. But if it doesn't, both desktop and mobile Chrome users should expect an announcement within the next few weeks about the new feature.

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As well as potentially offering users a better experience, an official ad blocker from Google would certainly help keep advertising partners and publishers in line. Any advert detected on a website that falls below the Google-defined threshold could see all advertising blocked, which directly impacts revenue. It simply isn't worth it to chance Google blocking your ads.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.

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