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by zormino 1728 days ago
I think it's one thing to strip out content or ads, but an entirely different beast to replace ads with your own. There are arguments for blocking ads, both ethical and security based. But replacing the ads with your own is basically the same as stealing the content for your own profit. Brave is a shitty company with no moral leg to stand on.
2 comments
sodality2 1728 days ago
This is the crucial part. Is brave inserting ads on the SAME PAGE that it stripped out of? If so I agree completely. I thought brave had some sort of notification system though, which is a bit different IMO.
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jonathansampson 1728 days ago
No, Brave does not display ads on publisher properties. Brave blocks trackers (which impacts most third-party ads), but does no in-situ substitution. First-party ads are generally untouched. Brave acts as a content-filter out of the box (similar to uBlock Origin), protecting the user and their data from third-party harvesters and more.

Brave does offer an optional feature called Brave Ads, which enables users to view privacy-respecting ads (as notifications, and high-quality New Tab Page wallpapers) for 70% of the associated revenue. This revenue (in the form of BAT rewards) can then flow out to verified publishers as a form of support. No user data is collected; ad-matching happens on-device, and in accordance with user-specified constraints.

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jonathansampson 1728 days ago
Brave does not replace (meaning, display in-situ) third-party ads. Those are blocked, as you stated, for ethical and security reasons. Brave offers an opt-in feature of the browser called 'Brave Rewards' and 'Brave Ads'. This feature enables users to opt-in to ad-notifications (displayed as native prompts on the device; not shown on the pages you visit). Ads are displayed on every 4th new tab page for participating users (again, no ads on publisher properties). The user consents to these, receives 70% of the revenue for their attention, and sets threshold limitations for how many ads can be displayed in a given period. Brave has never replaced ads on pages; that would be highly unethical.
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