News of Google implementing a native ad blocker for Chrome surfaced several months ago with divided response. Now it appears that it is finally live in Chrome’s Canary and Dev builds on Android. It sounds weird that Google, a company that makes money from advertising is implementing an ad blocker. However, it makes sense business-wise since it will be blocking intrusive ads that are mostly the company’s competitors for ad space.
Isn’t that Evil?
Google’s corporate motto is still “don’t be evil”, so this move sounds very corrupt and straight out of a fascist’s handbook. Who exactly decides what ads should be blocked under which standard? That is where the Coalition for Better Ads comes in. The group, which Google is a member of decides the standards and which ads require blocking. The move to implement a native ad blocker in Chrome is also meant to dissuade 3rd party software which negatively affects Google’s bottom line. It is obviously a very gray area morally. However, Google can also claim that they are doing this for user safety.
Adblock Only on Canary and Chrome Dev Releases for Now
These features are only on the unstable Canary and Chrome Dev builds so far. These are downloadable via the Google Play store for Android phones and it the option is located under “Site Settings”.
There’s nothing morally grey about blocking ads at all. My computer, my phone, my internet connection, my control.