Google doesn’t want you using adblockers, so its building its own

Google’s wildly popular Chrome browser could soon feature its own adblocker, according to sources quoted by the WSJ.

“People familiar with the company’s plans” suggest that this adblocker, built by Google itself, won’t function entirely like uBlock or AdBlock Plus which allows users to block all ads on demand. Instead, it will filter ads that don’t meet Google’s specific criteria.

The criteria, outlined in the Initial Better Ads Standards, deem around 12 current advertising systems and techniques to be unsuitable and downright annoying for users. Pre-content pop-ups, ads that just won’t stop playing or shutting up, or ads that stick to panes of a browser tab are all on the naughty list.

Google Chrome could soon feature its own adblocker to stop users installing their own

Largely Google, and its advertising coalition partners, explained that these ad methods resulted in an “increased propensity for consumers to adopt ad blockers”. And Google doesn’t want you to install adblockers.

Alphabet announced that Google’s advertising revenue grew 17% year-on-year to US$22.4-billion in Q4 2016 alone. According to Juniper Research (cited by CNBC), adblocking could cost the ad industry around US$22-billion by 2020.

That’s not a statistic the internet giant wants to see.

The benefits for you, and for the web

While adding its own adblocking system to Chrome has obvious company benefits, is pretty big news for both consumers and site-owners too.

Chrome’s adblocker gives the company the power to drop all ads from a site if said site doesn’t adhere to its standards. For sites, this spells entire advertising system changes, better standards, and overall, a cleaner web.

Considering Chrome’s browser market share — as high as 58% depending on your source — advertisers will have to adhere sooner or later.

For consumers, this could mark the beginning of a more pleasant web, with less clutter, and fewer annoyances.

WSJ’s report suggests that the feature could be announced “within weeks” but that’s if the internet giant ultimately follows through with the plan.

Now, if Google can only do something about those toxic comment sections.