Since February 2018, Google Chrome includes its own ad blocker, but unlike AdBlock-style blockers, it is just a kind of filter to prevent some websites from abusing intrusive advertising.
However, with the arrival of Chrome 71, Google will go one step further to combat what they have described as ” Deceptive experiences “. If a website incurs this type of practice repeatedly, Chrome will not only block all advertising in them but will also add them to a blacklist.
What are “Deceptive experiences”?
With the Chrome ad blocker rules cover only a certain type of advertising, such as popups, full-page ads, or advertising videos that play automatically with sound.
With the new measure, Chrome 71, which arrives in December, will be able to block all advertising on websites if they offer ads of what they consider “deceptive experiences”. This includes:
- False messages: these are announcements of the type of chat messages, warnings, notifications, or those famous “error” pop-ups that seek to trick the user into directing it to another website when they click on them.
- Unexpected click areas: if a website tries to deceive you with transparent backgrounds or page elements that are not visible and that you can not normally click on and that end up sending you to another website or opening ads.
- Misleading behavior: this includes elements of a page such as the following buttons, or playback or even scrollbars that send you to an ad or other pages that are not expected.
- Phishing: any page or ad element that tries to trick the user into stealing your personal information.
- Automatic redirection: everything that tries to redirect you to another page without you doing anything.
- Mouse cursor: those that look like the moving mouse pointer or click to try to trick you into interacting with them.
- Malware: any item or ad that contains links or hosts malicious content that can be installed on your device.
If a website uses this type of advertising strategies it will be notified by Google with examples of the detected deceptive experiences and will have 30 days to eliminate them. Once the webmaster corrects the problems you should ask Google for a review of your website if you want them to stop blocking it.
For Google, this is their way of “improving navigation and protecting users“, and no doubt more than one will be happy that the browser blocks this type of practices by default. However, we can not ignore the fact that Google is also playing the game of being judge and party, acting as an arbitrator of an industry of which it is also a part.