Unpopular Browser Considers Making Controversial Feature Default - The UpStream

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Unpopular Browser Considers Making Controversial Feature Default

posted Saturday Mar 18, 2017 by Scott Ertz

Unpopular Browser Considers Making Controversial Feature Default

Around our offices, the idea The Free Web is an important one. In fact, it is so important we wrote a manifesto. While it is worth a read, the basis is that ad blockers are a false solution to a real problem. Everyone in the equation has responsibilities in maintaining The Free Web, and in the last few years, no one has been holding up their end of the deal.

Last year, Opera, the browser that you forgot existed, introduced a native ad blocker into their browser. Obviously the decision was controversial, but potentially for no reason. As it turns out, a minority of users of the statistically insignificant browser have decided to turn on the feature. The company will not be shaken from its goal, which they claim is a faster web,

We will continue this mission by making our native ad blocking feature even better this year. You can expect to see the first steps in this process this spring. Stay tuned for more speed and a more user-friendly experience.

As for now, we only provide native ad blocking as a preference. This may change, as we are currently evaluating whether we should help people be more active in blocking ads going forward.

Including this feature natively is a bit of an insult to publishers, like ours, that require the advertising revenue to survive. Turning the feature on by default would likely cause a backlash from the big publishers. However, since the browser has less than 1% of the global share, it's also possible that no one will care.

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