Google has added the option to block intrusive advertisements in the newest version of Chrome Canary for both Android devices and desktop computers. The new feature manifests as an option in the Site settings menu, with this submenu containing a lone toggle allowing you to block some of the more intrusive advertisements from getting in the way of your browsing experience. The ad blocker takes care of many types of advertisements that are already banned under Google’s AdSense program. For the time being, it works by blocking all advertisements from a given site rather than only blocking the intrusive ads themselves, though the feature is turned off by default.
The criteria for blocking is based on criteria created by the Coalition for Better Ads. The group, which Google is a member of, defines intrusive ads under twelve different types, with four being on desktop and eight being on mobile. Immovable ads that take up more than 30 percent of a page, as well as pop-up ads and video ads that autoplay with sound are defined as intrusive across all platforms. Prestitial ads with an unskippable countdown are uniquely reviled on desktop platforms, while their postitial counterparts, as seen on link-shortening sites like adf.ly, are unacceptable on mobile. Any and all prestitial ads are intrusive on mobile, according to the same standards. Intrusive ads on mobile are also defined as full-screen ads that you have to continue scrolling past, ads on a page that take up more than 30 percent of the screen in total at any time, and flashing animated ads. While vibrating ads were not specifically listed, they normally end up falling under one of the other definitions and this issue has already been taken care of as of the version 60 of Chrome which doesn’t allow pages to make the device vibrate without a specific permission from the user.
Talk of Google implementing a native ad blocker in Chrome has been ongoing for some time now, following the company’s recent exploits in cracking down on any page and content behaviors that can hinder the user’s browsing experience. The ad blocker present in the newest Chrome Canary is still somewhat unstable and is primarily meant for testing purposes. Google even says that the feature is meant for developers and advanced users at this time and there is still no word on when the feature will make it to the Stable channel.