Google Chrome update brings ad-blocker by default

Google’s internet browser Chrome will now automatically block adverts in a bid to improve the way they’re displayed online.

The tech giant revealed in a recent blogpost that the push for “compelling” and “useful” adverts had gone too far, with some web users forced to see ads for ten seconds before accessing the content on a page.

According to BBC News, the Coalition for Better Ads (CBA), a group which includes major companies such as Google and Facebook, will determine which adverts will be barred by the web browser’s ad-blocking programme.

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Once the coalition has made a decision, the BBC says websites will be given 30 days to remove “disruptive ads” before the block comes into effect.

The programme will not be the “blanket advertising stopper” that many third-party ad blockers provide, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Instead, the newspaper says, the blocking programme targets “certain types of particularly disruptive adverts”, such as “flashing animated banner ads and auto-playing video adverts with sound”.

When visiting a web page with blocked adverts, Quartz says users see a message in the address bar on their desktop computer or a small window at the bottom of their smartphone screen.

Chrome users can access Google’s ad-blocker on the latest version of the web browser, which is available on PCs and Apple Macs. It can also be downloaded on iPhones and Android devices.