771
Ad blocking is alive and well, despite Chrome's attempts to make it harder
(www.theregister.com)
There is a web outside of chrome...
this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2026
771 points (99.4% liked)
Technology
80859 readers
2993 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Let's be honest: The internet without adblock is unusable. I really do not know how all those people without adblock are doing that.
I see people who put zero effort into ad-blocking in a similar light as people who don't leave shitty partners. At some point they manage to convince themselves that it's not a problem.
Don't forget that most people don't know that blocking ads is possible. To most people, their browser is on an appliance, like a washing machine or fridge. They know how to do the basics, but that's about it.
Some even LIKE the ads.
I'm pretty sure I've clicked in like 3 ads in my life accidentally. But I saw people actively clicking in ads on purpose regularly and that shit shocked me completely. People don't look at it as malware and phishing links like I do and think it's a good thing. Internet was a mistake.
I've heard the phrase "I saw an ad on Instagram for..." way too many fucking times.
Hot single mom's in my area. Well...
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(8 replies)
load more comments
(6 replies)
No seriously though. Was using managers laptop very briefly, and needed to look up some instructions. No adblock, Google Chrome default browser, etc. The websites were almost unreadable. Giant video ads in top and bottom corners, big thick flashing distracting ads on all sides making the readable area a little bigger than a postage stamp. Genuinely how do people browse the Internet like this?
load more comments
(2 replies)
load more comments
(19 replies)
Ads need to be banned. They are inherently harmful, inherently deceptive, and only valuable in competition with other advertising. There is a direct line between the advertising model and the malignant politics that are destroying our world. Ban them all.
I was born in the early 90s, got non-dial up home internet access in 2003, and never ever, in the history of my time being on the internet. I have never ever, never not even once clicked on an ad on purpose. Like the Yahtzee ad thats showing right above your comment, I will never click this shit and follow it all the way up to giving my credit card info over. Why do we even have these nowadays, aside from tracking you?
There are ads on Lemmy? I've never seen one.
But, like so many things in this world, if you ask 'why is this a thing?' the answer is almost always 'idiots exist.' A handful of idiots DO click on ads and buy the products, download the malware, etc. It's not much but the 30 real people lend legitimacy to the 970 'totally real people' who 'totally clicked on the ad but just didn't buy anything' according to the metrics, and it's seemingly impossible to sell anything without paying rent to the marketers because it's essentially analogous to nuclear arms; if no one had it, everyone would be happier, healthier, and safer, but if they have it and you don't, you lose.
There are ads on Lemmy? I’ve never seen one.
That's on their specific client.
Bad client....
Which I'm pretty sure I paid for too, its Sync for Lemmy.
Because some people do click it. Children, old people, tech illiterate people. The exact target market for those wanting to exploit people.
load more comments
(1 replies)
I wonder, is hatred of advertising a common thing for folks with ADHD? They take away something you are giving your attention to because it interests you, and shove some other crap in your face just to serve their own interests.
I remember being enraged at the scheduled commercial breaks in the '80s and '90s. The only benefit they had was that I always knew which segment of the show I was in and therefore roughly what time it was.
But now? It is so much damn worse and the normies just seem more OK with it than ever. I just remind myself they are living in a society that conditions them to accept it and gives them a thousand more serious things to worry about.
Edit: some words not have right letters
I hate it because it’s an unethical practice to manipulate or mislead and all modern advertising uses dark patterns to try to get you to overconsume.
The ADHD distress is just another side effect of all that
load more comments
(7 replies)
I have wasted so much of my life watching adverts. I am absolutely over it and I get agitated if I watch them now. I cancel any streaming service that tries to force them on me and I am relying more and more on Plex/Jellyfin. I am not going to waste any more of my life watching marketing lies.
Combo of ADHD and living through the 2000s with Internet Explorer where ads often installed malware and viruses. If you DIDN'T use an Ad Blocker you were playing a game of Russian Roulette every time you opened a web page.
Popups, pop unders, blaring audio, malware, slow page loads...ads are a scourge.
I genuinely believe most forms of advertising on the web are ableist because they try to make them as distracting as possible. Removing those ads is accessibility.
I don't consider ads at the start and end of videos to be ableist, but they're still annoying. Mid video ads, pause screen ads, and banner ads are all ableist.
load more comments
(8 replies)
So weird that companies waste so much time trying to find ways to stop me from stopping them from wasting my time.
Maybe they should do a study in exactly where the ad revenue comes from. I strongly suspect that people who use ad blockers, and people who potentially generate revenue from ads, are two non-intersecting sets.
Honestly, if people successfully using adblockers were a worthwhile market, we'd have seen laws against adblockers years ago.
"Chrome?" People still using this shit?
The ad company hates ad blockers. Whoda thunk it? Also, don't let web browser engines become a monoculture. We went through this shit with Internet Explorer. We know where this leads.
Let’s be very clear here. Chrome ripped off the hard work from the KDE webkit people. That is also the reason much of it is open source, because open source and volunteer contributions made it live.
load more comments
(12 replies)
Is it?
I used vanilla Chrome with “Ublock lite” in someone else’s computer for a bit, and was shocked by how many ads got through, not to speak of annoyances and what I suspect was a malware link. We also got a related ad on TV soon after browsing for something.
I think Google’s having their cake and eating it. It blocks enough for users to feel like they’re getting Adblock, yet it’s not much skin off Google's back.
Was the slider turned up all the way?
I dunno. Whatever the default was, so perhaps not?
But whatever Ublock Lite's default is is probably what 99% of folks are using.
Can't believe the world we live in. Everyone knows google and meta are f'ing up the internet yet they posted massive record profits.
Trumps name is in Epstein file. There's pics video audio of him grabbing women and yet he's the president.
Companies like Tesla and big banks pay 0 federal tax and yet they are operational.
Social media has literally brainwashed people and people especially 9-5s will destory themselves and their kids future.
It doesn't help their case that most mobile websites are just completely unusable with ads enabled. It's impressive how shit they are sometimes
The trick is to not use chromium
Who the fuck is still using Chrome?!
Oh, you know. Just 3.6 billion fucking people (73% of web users). But definitely not you and me. I've been on Firefox since 1.0 (2004) and switched to Librewolf a few years ago when Mozilla lost it.
load more comments
(5 replies)
Everyone, they really don't care about ads as much as us.
Over my cold, dead hands. Fuck you and your shitty worldview,
Better be. Also, fuck chrome.
Most of the time I dont see any ads on YT and I watch a lot of content there. It's getting harder to not get ads there on all my devices but it's doable.
But when I go see my parents, I use their smartTV to watch YT. And I realize how horrible the experience is with all the interruptions and the impossibility to just focus on what you are watching.
And yesterday I got multiple time ads for a crypto scam called Ryxero or something. The scam was using AI clones of Bernard Arnault, a french billionaire, pretending you could win 1000€ a day...
The scam also had deepfakes of news outlets pretending that people in France were "queuing to ATM" to get their money...
I think it's absolutely unacceptable that YT let them serve crypto scams to millions in complete impunity.
I will try to report the scam to authorities. I also reported it to YT but I dont expect them to act. The 3mn long ad was paid by an american business called "EX" which I think serves their scam abroad through YT in complete impunity.
For me the scam and AI clones is obvious but how many got scammed with the complicity of YouTube ? Hundreds ?
Watching TV of any kind at other people's homes, and especially my parents' place, can feel like some real black mirror shit.
load more comments
(1 replies)
I am honestly sad and sick of the sheer volume of ads, well, everywhere and in everything. Internet, tv, even in the real world you are bombarded by ads from every angle. Every time any free app or service gains traction, boom, there are ads now.
It is absolutely unavoidable, even when using adblock and similar services, and what is even worse is that this doesn't even feel like marketing now, but just a coercion tactic to force you to subscribe to "premium", because the ads do not really often feel like trying to sell you something but just annoy the hell out of you.
I am just so tired of it...
even in the real world you are bombarded by ads from every angle
I despise the digital billboards that now litter highways and roads that gets congested during rush hours. And especially at night when they just ignore brightness laws and blinding everyone and endangering drivers.
load more comments
(9 replies)
load more comments
(2 replies)
If you ever use the web without an adblocker you see why people have such a hard time with it and why apps took over. It’s almost entirely unusable except for some of the data farming social media sites (which also try to funnel you to their apps).
If you dont have an adblocker.. you're guaranteed to get that fake "Virus found" notification from a website that has bad ads.
load more comments
(2 replies)
view more: next ›