Google is stepping up its fight against websites that use shady pop-ups and redirects to ensnare web users.
As of December, Chrome 71 will block all ads on the “small number” of sites that consistently use these tactics, whether they’re producing fake system errors or trying to steer you to unwanted sites. It won’t yank ads right away when Google determines that something is rotten, but there won’t be much time — after Google flags issues in an Abusive Experiences report, site owners will have 30 days to mend their ways.
You’ll have the option to disable the site filtering in Chrome’s settings, Google said.
This probably won’t raise too many objections, since the sites that use these tricks often rely primarily or exclusively on them. Google noted that phishing and scam sites sometimes use these methods to swipe your data. All the same, it’s significant that the company is blocking all ads based on the nature of a given site, not just the individual offending ads.
That might not make honest advertisers happy, but Google is clearly betting that sites will change their practices before that becomes a significant issue.
