WSJ: Google will build an ad-blocker into Chrome

Tonight the Wall Street Journal reports that, according to anonymous sources, Google will introduce an ad-blocking feature for Chrome on mobile and desktop platforms. Ad blockers for browsers are hardly a new thing, and Google itself already pays into Adblock Plus' "Acceptable Ads" program, but this is interesting because Google is at its heart an advertising company. Based on the report, Chrome's ad blocking will target bad advertisements as defined by the Coalition for Better Ads, including pop-ups, autoplaying ads with sound, page-blocking time countdowns and others.

Add-ons like ABP and uBlock Origin are available across platforms including Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge, but building in blocking is going a little further. Chrome has held the line against certain kinds of pop-ups and other web annoyances, but so far the Brave browser has been the main one leading with ad blocking (and replacing) as a feature. By building in a blocker that cuts out the most annoying types, the WSJ notes, Google could try to keep users from installing one of the extensions that block all ads or, keep them from switching to another browser.