[diffraction]

I block ads because "native" ad producers like Taboola, Outbrain, Revcontent, ... you get the point. These advertising companies like to show NSFW content at the end of news articles at some sites. Therefore I block ads for the same reason I block pornographic sites.

This was pretty liberating because before "native" ads I felt a pang of guilt for blocking ads.

If Google wants to stop ad blockers they should hide sites that use these obnoxious "native" ad networks.

[partiallypro]

> If Google wants to stop ad blockers they should hide sites that use these obnoxious "native" ad networks.

This would instantly and Google in court for anti-competitive practices...and rightfully so. Imagine if Google suddenly said, "we are going to punish any publisher that doesn't use Adsense within organic search listings." Holy cow that would be bad, and the scary part is that Google could easily do this without even announcing it.

[Jordrok]

I agree, but let's be fair here. Porn brings much more value to the world than Taboola and Outbrain could ever hope for.

[empath75]

That would bring an antitrust lawsuit against them pretty quickly, I think.

[newjersey]

This is probably the worst thing about being influential and/or wealthy. Nobody would sue opera if they did it.

[thedufer]

Does opera bring in 18 billion dollars a year from advertising? Anti competitive is a much easier sell against Google, since advertising is their core business. I don't see how this has much to do with influence.

[ZeroGravitas]

This comment prompted me to investigate why these ads still showed up for me on Mobile Firefox, despite having AdBlock Plus installed. In the AdBlock options, there's a check box to allow "acceptable" ads.

Sorry other allegedly acceptable ads, but I don't need trashy clickbait at the end of every news story so you all lose out.