Google has switched on a new tool in the Chrome browser that cuts out intrusive advertising like videos that autoplay, flashing animations and those annoying layers with no ‘close’ button that block screens.
The move is the internet giants latest step in a campaign to clean up the web.
From February 15, the Chrome browser will not display advertising unless the content is passed by the Coalition for Better Ads that meets the Better Ads Standard.
Advertising that follows web users from site to site and those where more than 30% of the content is advertising also face a ban by Chrome.
“A big source of frustration is annoying ads: video ads that play at full blast or giant pop-ups where you can’t seem to find the exit icon,” said Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, vice president for Chrome.
Designed to be disruptive
“These ads are designed to be disruptive and often stand in the way of people using their browsers for their intended purpose — connecting them to content and information. It’s clear that annoying ads degrade what we all love about the web.”
Google argues that most advertising problems are controlled by web site owners.
The new policing system detects offending ads, the coalition goes to the site owner and gives them 30 days to change the ad – if no action is taken after 30 days, the ad is blocked by browsers.
“Chrome will automatically block ads on sites that fail the Better Ads Standards,” said Google’s engineering manager Chris Bentzel.
Filtering technology
“Chrome will show the user a message indicating that ad blocking has occurred as well as an option to disable this setting by selecting ‘allow ads on this site’. For desktop users, the notification in Chrome’s address bar will look like Chrome’s existing pop-up blocker. Android users will see message in a small infobar at the bottom of their screen and can tap on ‘details’ to see more information and override the default setting.”
“We’re encouraged by early results showing industry shifts away from intrusive ad experiences and look forwarding to continued collaboration with the industry toward a future where Chrome’s ad filtering technology will not be needed.”
The new measure will not stop the popular extension Adblock.
With 40 million users, the extension runs in the background and automatically filters out advertising on web pages.
Adblock is also the most popular extension for Apple’s Safari web browser.