Some of the web's biggest companies have been paying to get around Adblock Plus, according to a new report from Financial Times. Microsoft's Bing search ads and Taboola's "recommended links" box are among the ads that are currently slipping through Adblock Plus's filter, and FT confirms that it's the intentional result of a paid deal between the makers of Adblock and the owners of the ads. According to FT sources, the companies have paid Eyeo (the maker of Adblock Plus) to be added to an official whitelist, which allows them to bypass the plug-in. Google has a similar deal, as has been previously reported.
Eyeo has discussed the whitelist in the past as part of the company's "acceptable ads" program, which is designed to let less aggressive advertising through the filter and encourage companies to tone down their ads. The program is optional for users, but encouraged. "By doing this you support websites that rely on advertising but choose to do it in a non-intrusive way," the Adblock Plus site reads. But while enlisting as part of the program is free for smaller companies, larger companies have been paying hefty fees to participate and bankrolling much of Adblock Plus's development in the process.
2/2 2:19pm ET: Updated to clarify that the partnerships concern Adblock Plus, not the separate software known as AdBlock.
Comments
Can they rename their name to "Adblock*"?
By rvarg007 on 02.02.15 12:40pm
I…. I’m okay with this, this is a nice way to do this
This is okay.
I don’t support the use of adblock, But that full screen ad The Verge was running a while back made me just freaking skip using the site for my news. NEVER have I seen such horrible use of advertising.
By Darren Treat on 02.02.15 12:41pm
Really? You have never seen a worse ad than that? What about popups? What about those audio ads that auto play but are hidden so that it is nearly impossible to turn them off? What about the ones that used to give you viruses?
By inimrepus on 02.02.15 1:00pm
Hyperbole.
However, the ad used if def the worst I’ve seen used by a legitimate company.
By Darren Treat on 02.02.15 1:02pm
"What about those audio ads that auto play but are hidden so that it is nearly impossible to turn them off?"
Quickest way to get me to close a tab and abandon that site regardless of the content I was going there for.
By groberts1980 on 02.03.15 8:58am
I remember a Diablo 3 Ad on TheVerge that had auto-rolling video. Made me pretty quick on the mute button on my keyboard.
By StevieBallz on 02.04.15 6:49am
I dislike Adblock too, and my personal rule has always been to simply stop visiting a website if their ads are too intrusive. If I like the content enough to tolerate the ads, then that must mean the ads aren’t unreasonable.
By aapierce on 02.02.15 2:19pm
Same
By lobotomies4free on 02.03.15 4:00pm
You should see the insane ad spam on TechnoBuffalo
By jonathanbond on 02.02.15 2:39pm
Yea that’s true I had to stop going over there because of that.
By keeg86 on 02.02.15 2:59pm
They actually just discontinued their contract with that ad server. They were very apologetic and professional about it, actually.
By jjwood84 on 02.02.15 7:24pm
Link?
By uditrana on 02.03.15 1:00am
Sorry for the late response.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xFO889l0WE
By jjwood84 on 02.06.15 9:50am
This is why news sites should sell the ad spots themselves. Too many of them implement huge ad networks that do nothing but spam readers with garbage.
I don’t always like ads, but when I do, they’re thoughtful, relevant and unobtrusive.
By tnypxl on 02.03.15 8:33am
I just reanabled ab-block on the verge because of the size of the ATT ad currently running. Usually I keep it off here, but that ad is too aggressive in scale.
By grimpoteuthis on 02.02.15 3:27pm
Yup same, it messed with my scrolling as well.
By forwardisstilltheonlyway on 02.03.15 8:48am
I am OK with it too if it still blocks Youtube ads.
By Fredi on 02.02.15 3:37pm
No video is ever worth me sitting through a 30 second commercial to view a 3-5 minute video.
By groberts1980 on 02.03.15 8:59am
Actually screw them all. I run uBlock. Ever since I have noticed my RAM usage went down. All that tracking and flash, and embedded nonsense is the reason why sites come to a crawl in our browsers or eat up massive amounts of RAM. If I can switch the channel during commercials, why shouldn’t I have the right to turn off ads that I will never click on?
Recently my college started putting ads on their college website. Keywords would link to some private for-profit institution. That’s where I drew the line.
By Emmanuel A. on 02.03.15 4:13am
Clicks are no longer the standard metric for ad sales. Viewability and impressions are.
By scottkellum on 02.03.15 11:18am
Not to sound like a dick, but guys like you will just drive the people that sell and make the ads work harder to get it into your face and mind. It will happen. You cannot hide. You either turn the internet or TV off and go outside into nature or be with people, or you endure the mandatory toll called "ads".
By greg.episcopo on 02.04.15 7:17am
Sorry but I agree with Emmanuel. It’s a sad/disgusting world you’re describing. And it doesn’t have to be like that. Just take Wikipedia as an example!
It’s crazy that ads (even "IN YOUR FACE" ads) have come to be accepted by society, without question, because "that’s what makes companies run", in the same way that it’s accepted in India that if you’re from a low caste you have to work your ass off for a miserable salary because "it’s what makes society run"
Many ads are just sick, and shouldn’t be accepted blindly. I’m not talking about all ads. For example, countries in the north of Europe have lots of hilarious ads, that people actually want to share! That I have nothing against. Where it gets ridiculous is when ads are uninteresting things shoved in your face, when you don’t want it. (worse: when there’s an agressive loud volume and you have to wait 5 seconds to quickly click on "SKIP AD")
By cipnrkorvo on 02.05.15 8:25am
There are very few sites that I white list. Some sites are just too aggressive and obnoxious with the advertising
By soulchilde on 02.02.15 12:41pm
You mean black list.
By Chit on 02.02.15 6:05pm
No, he means white list
By forwardisstilltheonlyway on 02.03.15 8:48am