Google is rumored to be giving Chrome an ad-blocker in a future update according to a new report. Judging by the details this wouldn’t necessarily be a full-blown ad blocker that nixes every ad on every website, rather it sounds like it’s meant to provide users a small filter for the ads that might give them a bad experience. According to the rumor bad-experience ads would not be decided upon by Google, but instead would be categorized by the standards laid out by the Coalition for Better Ads, and the new ad-blocking feature in Chrome would be coded to recognize these types of ads so that when found they would be able to prevent users from having to see them.
Google’s plans for the ad-blocking feature reportedly include both its desktop and mobile versions of the popular browser, which would mean that users on Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, and Mac would have access to it, but it is worth noting that no OS platforms were rumored as of yet and there is no detail on whether or not Google would launch the feature on all the platforms where Chrome is available simultaneously, or if they would roll it out in stages. It’s also possible that the feature may not actually make it into the browser on the various planned platforms as it’s also noted that Google isn’t sure yet whether they’ll be implementing it. If they do end up introducing it though an announcement for the feature could be just a few weeks away, albeit without a time frame given for an actual launch. Release details may surface in the weeks ahead if Google makes the announcement about the filter’s existence.
While the feature is being described as a filter of only a certain set of ad types, some websites could face having all of their ads blocked even if only a few ads are offensive. It’s said that Google may choose to design the feature so that it blocks out all ads on a particular website if it detects that there is even a single ad that could cause a bad experience. If this functionality is worked in then it could force website to ensure they provide a better ad experience for site visitors. With a launch of the filter Google could entice users to stick with Google’s option as opposed to finding and installing any number of other ad blockers which tend to filter out everything.