Google Chrome ramps up user protection against 'abusive' ads

To better protect users against abusive ad experiences, Chrome will remove all ads on the sites with persistent abusive experiences in its upcoming browser version. The move comes after Chrome learnt that its first set of user protections against abusive experiences launched last November "did not go far enough".According to product manager Vivek Sekhar, more than half of the abusive experiences, including links to third-party websites disguised as play buttons or other site controls, were not blocked by its current set of protections and nearly all involve harmful or misleading ads. Other examples of abusive experiences include ads that trick users into clicking on it by pretending to be system warnings or “close” buttons that do not actually close the ad. Some of these abusive ad experiences are used by scammers and phishing schemes to steal personal information, Sekhar said.Website owners can use the Abusive Experiences Report in their Google Search Console to see if their site contains any abusive experiences that need to be corrected or removed, such as pop-ups or new window requests that will redirect pages. Site owners will have a 30 day window to fix experiences flagged by the Report before Chrome removes ads.Google Chrome has been initiating a push for over a year to remove ads that do not conform to certain standards set out by the Coalition for Better Ads. Depending on the number of violations of the Better Ads Standards found on the website, it will be evaluated as having a status of "Passing", "Warning" or "Failing" in the Ad Experience Report. Ads with a "Failing" status in the report for over 30 days will be removed. It also enabled for users the ability to mute entire websites that auto-play videos earlier this year.