Microsoft, others pay to have ads go unblocked through Adblock Plus

Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Taboola have all paid to have advertisements go unblocked on their websites for users that are running Adblock Plus. Adblock Plus, unsurprisingly, blocks ads, unless a company pays Eyeo, the company that produces Adblock Plus, or meets certain conditions. If companies are forthright that they are posting advertisements and the ads are deemed as not disruptive they can be added to a ‘whitelist’ that allows them to go unblocked but being placed on the white list is only free if they are a smaller website. It but comes at a cost for larger companies.

Online advertising is a $120 billion business and blocking ads has been a controversial subject. Websites often only make money off of advertisement and the amount that they can charge advertisers is dependent upon how many viewers their site receives. With the prevalence of ad blocking extensions including Adblock Plus, viewership of advertisements goes down, ads become less effective, and companies may change which websites they advertise with or how much they charge per advertisement. It’s a sticky situation because users don’t want to be bombarded with advertisements but owners of websites still need to make money. With four of the largest sources of internet traffic paying to have ads go unblocked, there could be a noticeable effect on advertisements throughout the web.