Google Chrome browser will start blocking ads come February 2018

Effective February 15, 2018, Google will block all ads (including those owned or served by Google) on all websites that display non-compliant ads.  Chrome’s built-in ad-blocker will start working on February 15, 2018, the company announced today. This announcement will have a devastating effect on publishers, marketers and bloggers that use ads as one of the ways of generating revenues for the sites. Google first made the announcement back in June when it gave publishers six months to prepare for a new ad-blocking tool the company is planning to introduce in its Chrome web browser. Ad blocking will come to both Google’s desktop and mobile browsers. The announcement was first mentioned on Venturebeat.

According to Google, the goal is  to stop showing ads from sites that use intrusive advertising experiences starting February 15.  According to VentureBeat, Google today also shared how sites affected by Chrome’s ad blocker will be able to get back into the browser’s good graces:

Violations of the Standards are reported to sites via the Ad Experience Report, and site owners can submit their site for re-review once the violations have been fixed. Starting on February 15, in line with the Coalition’s guidelines, Chrome will remove all ads from sites that have a “failing” status in the Ad Experience Report for more than 30 days. All of this information can be found in the Ad Experience Report Help Center, and our product forums are available to help address any questions or feedback.

The whole idea of ad blocking caught fire AdBlocker first came up with add-on to enable online users to block ads they consider intrusive. In addition, FireFox browser also comes with extension to effectively block unwanted popups, popunders and overlay ads.