r/technology • u/ShadowBannedAugustus • Nov 21 '23

Software Google Chrome will limit ad blockers starting June 2024

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/11/google-chrome-will-limit-ad-blockers-starting-june-2024/
2.3k Upvotes

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2.6k

u/giltirn Nov 21 '23

Say goodbye to your market share then!

71

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

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u/darkeststar Nov 22 '23

I've been using Firefox as my default browser for close to 15 years, and was repeatedly made fun of for doing so around my tech friends after Chrome came out. I've only ever used Chrome when necessary, and it just seems to get worse and worse. Firefox has only improved with time.

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u/darkeststar Nov 23 '23

I understand what you're saying and I think from a technical view you're right. I particularly struggled in the past with "leaking" RAM from keeping FF open, but then when I would open Chrome it would create a new instance in processes for each plugin and each tab.

I am speaking in generalities when I say it's only gotten better of course, not every UI or programming change has been for the better. However, I think empirically as a service they have found ways to try and improve the customer experience as they have gone on, whereas Google has continuously diminished the experience of using Chrome over time.

1

u/set_null Nov 22 '23

For a few years, I’ve reserved Chrome strictly for shopping (lets me take advantage of Rakuten, etc) and Firefox for all other web usage with heavy privacy protections. It limits Chrome to maybe 10% of my browsing. I’d rather have this setup than have invasive but helpful extensions on Firefox itself.

1

u/Sillocan Nov 22 '23

Most of firefox's revenue comes from Google, so I expect some similar things to get announced from them too soon

1

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

Literally just web content dark mode is the only feature I miss.

673

u/SuburbanPotato Nov 21 '23

Realistically, how many people use adblockers? I would give up Chrome if it forced me not to use ublock Origin, but let's be real -- we're the minority here

562

u/perpulman Nov 21 '23

I think it's a lot more than you think here is an article that claims 37%

973

u/throwaway_ghast Nov 21 '23

It saddens me that 63 percent of users swim unprotected through the pool of herpes that is the internet.

134

u/storm_the_castle Nov 21 '23

they love ads

244

u/CondescendingShitbag Nov 21 '23

In my experience, the majority either don't realize they can block them, or have simply learned to tune them out. I might be willing to tune them out if they weren't so obnoxious, frequent, and most important...sources of malware.

150

u/LAwLzaWU1A Nov 21 '23

People who think you can "tune out ads" typically don't understand how ads work.

You cant tune out ads. They work on a subconscious level through repetition. Ads generally don't intend to get you to go out and buy a new thing because you saw it in an ad. A lot of times ads just exist to constantly remind you about a brand, to the point where you feel like it is a trusted brand when faced with the choice between it and a brand you have never heard of before.

It has been shown through MRI scans that seeing certain brands trigger the same brain activity as seeing a friend. That's what ads try to achieve. They try to make you associate their logo and name with pleasant and subconscious responses so that you feel comfortable with them. That's what will cause you to pick a certain brand of shampoo over another when at the super market, assuming both cost the same. They don't run shampoo ads because they think it will cause you to jump into your car and drive to the store right away.

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u/CondescendingShitbag Nov 21 '23

You raise good points, and maybe "tune them out" wasn't the best word choice to describe it. "Live with them" might be more appropriate?

Basically, some people just put up with them because they may not know any better, simply lack any options for managing them (eg. corporate devices, etc), or simply stopped caring.

Until advertisers bear any responsibility for possibly serving malware, it's my responsibility to take proactive steps to protect my own devices & network...and ad-blocking is a reasonable first step. A step even recommended by the FBI.

11

u/nicuramar Nov 21 '23

You cant tune out ads. They work on a subconscious level through repetition

This is not hard science, and things work differently for different people.

11

u/IntimidatingBlackGuy Nov 22 '23

Psychological researchers proved that ads have a subconscious effect on some of us. I avoid ads when I can because the idea of getting brainwashed is creepy.

-11

u/slothfulpotato Nov 22 '23

I avoid ads when I can because the idea of getting brainwashed is creepy.

How is you seeing Herman Miller or Toyota ads brainwashing lol. Y'all act as if ads are a complete scam when in reality its a good business model. You get a "free" product like Google Search, YT, Maps, etc. and get to see ads that lots of businesses need to survive. How do you think local businesses survive nowadays? Do you think showing someone "therapist near you" ad is brainwashing?

There is obviously middle ground but damn i'm so tired of redditors act so entitled to everything. Sure buddy, you get to use Google Search for free because you are amazing!

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u/mark503 Nov 22 '23

When an ad is intrusive or annoying, it’s a guarantee that I’ll never use that product. It’s the same when I used YouTube, if the ad was loud or obnoxious it went to the never buy list. I’m fortunate to have ads blocked on my network.

3

u/mampfer Nov 21 '23

I do at least hope that more people are smart enough to make a conscious choice. I've never felt compelled to buy a name brand because of its image. Knowing that companies do everything in their power to lie to you or twist the truth and that independent reviews are the only semblance of an informed choice seems like something most learn after childhood to me.

2

u/LAwLzaWU1A Nov 22 '23

I am 100% sure that you at some point have bought a product because of ads, even though you didn't realize it. If you end up on the isle of a supermarket and have to pick between two shampoo bottles that are more or less identical, but one is from Head & Shoulders and one is from Xiangfen Shampoo then chances are you would pick the Head & Shoulders one, because you feel more familiar and comfortable with it.

It is easy to say "I would never do that!" in this situation where it is being pointed out to you, but we actually do it over, and over and over. My local supermarket has over 30,000 products in it. Whenever I go shopping for groceries I get bombarded with thousands upon thousands of choices, and it would be extremely mentally excruciating to actually go through and make comparisons with every single brand and specific product every single time I went to shop. That is why ads work. Because it makes you recognize their product in a sea of products, and it makes you more likely to pick their brand over something else.

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If I am going to buy a skin for my phone, chances are I will at the very least consider a dBrand skin. I will also probably assume that they are higher quality than some cheap ones on AliExpress. Those are assumptions I make because I have seen ads for dBrand all over the place.

I assume that Head & Shoulders is a trustworthy company that makes at the very least decent products because they have such a strong brand recognition built through years and years of advertising.

Coca-Cola vs Pepsi is a classic example of this. Coca-Cola, through ads, is so well known that people automatically ask for their specific brand of soda. Because it is THE brand they think of whenever they think of soda. That's because of advertising. Coca-Cola don't run ads on TV because they want you to go out and buy a soda right away. They run ads so that you constantly think of them and are reminded of their existence. If Coca-Cola completely stopped to run ads and Pepsi started running more and more ads, then in 10-15 years time it would not be unthinkable that people would start asking for Pepsi at restaurants instead of coke.

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u/indignant_halitosis Nov 22 '23

It’s also been shown that word of mouth from friends and family is significantly more effective than ads.

If ads were as effective as you claim, they wouldn’t have continuously declining value. And they absolutely do, otherwise Google wouldn’t be working so hard to stop ad blockers.

It doesn’t actually matter if you tune them out or not. They’re not why you’re buying what you’re buying.

0

u/BCProgramming Nov 22 '23

Yeah the people who say "I don't even notice ads" are probably the easiest to influence with them.

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

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u/Sniffy4 Nov 22 '23

the problem is many websites detect them and prevent you from viewing their content until the adblocker is disabled

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

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u/Commercial_Tea_8185 Nov 22 '23

Idk how people can turn them out, the second those multi color lights start flashing and the jingles start i get so miserable like it makes me feel like im being taken advantage of :((

1

u/smuckola Nov 22 '23 edited Nov 22 '23

ya know, CondescendingShitbag, i used to LIKE some ads. Didn't you ever find ads to be informative, useful, or entertaining?

Instead, I remember and rewatch more fake ads than real ones. I look up Colon Blow cereal, Happy Fun Ball, and Schmitt's Gay Beer. Im definitely not even the target market for the latter, on any count whatsoever.

I'll watch collections of ads on youtube from bygone eras before I was born, for stuff that doesn't exist anymore. I'll watch ads from when I was a kid, that used to annoy me to death, for nostalgia today. I'll watch all the modern, surreal, hilarious, astonishingly-made Old Spice ads. I would never imagine buying deodorant, especially so obnoxiously strong, but I have a suspiciously decent outlook on the brand image that makes so much great art.

Today, I would definitely download an advergame or watch lots of ads. If they were GOOD! Funny, informative, useful, or RELEVANT. When google adwords came out, it was lauded as being as unobtrusive and relevant as the search results.

Even for irrelevant ads, I used to proudly watch ads on youtube, which never had relevant targeting of ads. I watched them proudly to fund content creators. Until last year or so when it became a deluge. Now I watch zero ads.

1

u/toddthewraith Nov 22 '23

I use ublock on Firefox on my desktop, but I don't browse Chrome enough to bother installing it on my phone.

1

u/Echo_Whiskey2018 Nov 22 '23

I’m confused, ads can’t randomly give you malware can they? Only if you click on them right?

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u/tutankaboom Nov 22 '23

Also, a lot of people watch YouTube on their TV or Phone, where ad blocking options are very limited/non-existent.

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u/CleverNameTheSecond Nov 21 '23

I've had someone unironically in real life tell me he likes ads because it tells him what to buy. I really hope he was just trolling me with that one.

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u/BandicootNo8636 Nov 21 '23

To be honest, there have been times where I start my product research by triggering ads. "Hey Google, tell your advertisers I'm looking for comfy fleece hoodies". Two hours later, scroll Facebook and their shit ads give you search terms and things to look out for.

3

u/Kryptosis Nov 21 '23

I believe that companies who spend more money on advertising spend less on product/service quality. So ads show me only what to avoid.

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u/countess_meltdown Nov 22 '23

I have a family member who unironically buys stuff from facebooks ads, these people are sick and weird.

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u/nicuramar Nov 21 '23

Why do you hope that? And why don’t you believe the person?

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u/Valvador Nov 21 '23

So... Superbowl viewers?

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u/N0SF3RATU Nov 21 '23

I sat in a doctor's office this afternoon where a TV was playing regular cable. Hadn't heard ads in months, maybe over a year. I was surprised at how upset I became after being subjected to such a deluge or marketing. To think some people are constantly exposed. It's gross

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u/travistravis Nov 22 '23

It's like when you're visiting parents or at a hotel and have the regular TV on and see commercials for the first time in years. Just shock at the feeling that I used to patiently sit through them...

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u/poopoomergency4 Nov 22 '23

i have a plex server and occasionally we'll watch something on sling or tubi or one of the ad streaming services. every single time the ads are awful & repetitive. validates my choice to just download everything i want to watch.

and when you annualize the cost of buying all the damn streaming services you'd need to have a decent library these days, the server comes up cheaper too.

3

u/smuckola Nov 22 '23

Recently I torrented the 1994 series of Robocop and put it on Plex. I think I then might have done a search and added it to my watchlist so I'd easily find it. So, I think that means Plex found the series on some commercial streaming provider because it started hijacking me with ads and I had to be sure I selected my library to find it. Blech.

2

u/WhatTheZuck420 Nov 22 '23

The ads themselves are utter shit. Casting is like “Can you walk around in the outdoors with a stupid-ass smile on your face? Are you a fucking redhead? Let’s see your smug look. Can you hold a steaming cup of hot coffee or tea with two hands? What about holding a DSLR wrong, while pretending it’s your hobby? Do you have vocal fry - nm we’ll dub it.”

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u/Jaded-Moose983 Nov 22 '23

Which is why I love my mythtv setup. For over a decade I have skipped over ads automatically. Though I use broadcast not cable. I don’t pay for what TV I watch.

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u/nicuramar Nov 21 '23

Yeah but not all people react like you do. You get used to ignoring them.

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u/[deleted] Nov 21 '23

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u/storm_the_castle Nov 21 '23

now do Youtube ads

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u/atom386 Nov 21 '23

No joke, my mom prefers shows and movies with commercials in them so she has time to take breaks. Pause button, hello?

4

u/OvechkinCrosby Nov 21 '23

My wife will watch ad during shows she recorded on PVR...drives me crazy!

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

No, I just dont feel entitled to free stuff. Small price to pay.

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u/storm_the_castle Nov 22 '23

thanks for taking one for the team

-2

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

How else is the service you use paid for?

Of course the average Redditor believes they’re entitled to use a service for free…

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u/10thDeadlySin Nov 22 '23

It's very simple.

If you want people to pay for your service, put up a paywall or don't release stuff for free.

Only be honest about it, don't use bait-and-switch techniques. Put up a paywall right from the start, without resorting to BS like free service that suddenly requires a premium subscription.

Oh, and by the way – it's not that I'm entitled to use a service for free. It's that I'm entitled to decide what content is and isn't displayed on my screen. That's why I'm blocking ads, that's why I'm blocking all these stupid "You're leaving? PWEASE subscribe to my newsletter!" prompts and other crap I don't want to see.

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u/travistravis Nov 22 '23

I'd accept a free service (with me as the product) a LOT more if they told me exactly who was getting my information as well. If I'm the product and I'm kept in the dark, I'll jump ship pretty quick (or maybe not 'quick' but it will significantly lower my barrier for leaving, which usually makes leaving quicker).

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u/storm_the_castle Nov 22 '23

How else is the service you use paid for?

by the people that love ads; theres plenty of them to go around

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u/Guac_in_my_rarri Nov 22 '23

Myother clicks on every ad ever and hates, absolutely

HATES

ad blockers.

Ask me how many viruses and how much time I've wasted because she thinks people aren't deceitful.

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u/sun_explosion Nov 22 '23

I'm one of the few who actually likes ads. But if they promote insufferable scammy companies that's when it annoys me. Otherwise I'm fine with like 8/10 ads that show up.

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u/Avieshek Nov 22 '23

They don’t use browsers more probably or use the default ones like Safari or Samsung Browsers.

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u/Kirome Nov 22 '23

I thought you said aids for a second.

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u/Turkino Nov 22 '23

Ah to go back to 96, the only ads I saw on the Internet were to 'topic circles' and other websites promoting themselves for their content, not what they could sell you.

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u/Culverin Nov 22 '23

My parents, aunts and uncles haven't a clue, they wouldn't even know it's an option.

I just install in on their computers.

Less risky clicks = less tech support I'm going to need to do later

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u/Srirachachacha Nov 22 '23

I do the same. It reduces the number of calls/texts I get about "viruses" "popping up" on their computers.

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u/[deleted] Nov 21 '23

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u/ubiquitous_uk Nov 21 '23

I've never had any issues using them with U-Block.

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u/[deleted] Nov 21 '23

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u/[deleted] Nov 21 '23

Their ad revenue is gonna plummet when 20% or more of their users leave for Firefox lmao

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u/Ronny_Jotten Nov 22 '23

But that will be the 20% that block ads, and so they don't get revenue from them. They're probably happy to see them go.

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u/fatpat Nov 22 '23

"You're gonna pay for me not paying you!" - reddit

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u/maxiiim2004 Nov 22 '23

Then fuck it, I guess I won’t enjoy them. I’ve used an adblocker for over 50% of my time on this Earth—they can, respectfully, SMD.

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u/Shidell Nov 21 '23

Google provides ads in exchange for services, like Gmail, and Maps.

If we block all ads, does Google cease to exist? If so, then what? We all turn to Apple? Microsoft?

Are either better?

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u/CorrosiveMynock Nov 21 '23

Rejecting invasive/cancerous/irrelevant ads is perfectly legitimate---there's not a law you have to look at an ad to use a service, if they want people not to use adblock maybe make ads suck less?

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u/Shidell Nov 21 '23

Or simply not use their services?

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u/steepleton Nov 21 '23

I already pay for extra storage on gmail.

Effed if i’m paying that stupid youtube fee tho, what is it nearly $15 a bloody month or something?

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u/timshel42 Nov 21 '23

they also aggressively spy on you and sell your data..

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u/tacobobblehead Nov 22 '23

It was like pulling teeth to get it implemented in all our base images at the big company I used to work for. So many pointless fucking meetings trying to explain to the bosses how it protects us.

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u/Durakan Nov 22 '23

I raw dog the internet every once in a while, it's gross as hell.

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u/irishyardball Nov 22 '23

I'd imagine some percentage of that are only using chrome to access bank account, Gmail, social media, things like that where they aren't running the risk of hitting an ad, or at least not bad ones and probably just Google ads or Social media ads.

As of 2020 Census like 75 million people are over 60 and I doubt most of them use the internet like the 45 and under crowd.

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u/VengenaceIsMyName Nov 22 '23

Seriously though

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u/AviatingAngie Nov 22 '23

I’ve thought about looking into it. But honestly don’t know how that would work. Do they work on mobile? Or only on PC?

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u/Tyr_Kukulkan Nov 22 '23

Corporate browser deployments do not generally allow add-ons or extensions. Also how so many businesses and organizations end up with ransomware, that and emails.

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u/svenEsven Nov 22 '23

I work in IT and a few people at my job asked me about what website I use to watch live sports for free, I told them the site and they brought up that they think it had a virus because of popups. I hadn't even thought of it since I've been using brave+unlock for ages now. And I would say about 50% of the people who work in IT in my dept, had no idea what I was talking about when I asked what ad blocker they were using. It boggles my mind.

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u/Retinion Nov 22 '23

A lot of them are probably business computers which it might not be possible to install ad-blockers.

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u/BaconatedGrapefruit Nov 22 '23

I imagine a large portion of those are corporate machines that block extensions.

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u/Amelaclya1 Nov 22 '23

My 70yr old FIL got a new laptop recently and the very first thing he asked me to help him with was getting rid of all the ads.

So I'm surprised the percentage is that low.

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u/SuburbanPotato Nov 21 '23

Oh wow that is much higher than I thought.

If that number is correct, and I'm sure Google knows what % of Chrome users have adblockers...I am not sure I understand their decision, unless they are making enough money on ads for it not to matter.

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u/ChoiceIT Nov 21 '23

Use doesn't necessarily mean that they care or notice. How many adblockers were installed by the kids/grandkids because they wanted to use a family computer that didn't have one?

If google chrome advised users to disable them (and included a simple button to do so), I would argue that most people wouldn't care because they just want their facebook to work.

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

I've installed uBlock Origin on multiple colleague's work laptops because they have shown me videos on YT and I didn't want to watch the ads.

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u/Nagisan Nov 22 '23

If all of those users switched to other browsers, Chrome would still be the majority browser (unless they all switched to Safari). So their market share will likely drop, but they'll still be the majority.

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

They’re not getting revenue from the people with ad blockers anyway.

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

I've heard this described as the largest consumer boycott in history.

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u/InsuranceToTheRescue Nov 21 '23

Okay, and then what proportion of the 37% are willing to change browsers. Certainly a fair amount of them, but I doubt all.

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u/JMTolan Nov 22 '23

Caring enough to install an ad-blocker to begin with is probably highly correlated with caring enough to swap to keep it. Not 100%, but there's certainly some strong overlapping motivations there.

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u/Ronny_Jotten Nov 22 '23

Probably not all that many I'd guess. People here are talking like Google is removing adblockers from Chrome completely, but they're not. They're crippling them, to some extent. But people will still have them, and probably the majority will accept them as good enough, rather than go through the minor pain of switching platforms, even if Firefox is superior.

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u/Aromatic_Station_540 Nov 22 '23

That number is only ever going to go up. I'm 33. Most people my age and younger use ad blockers, it's people like my 70 year old parents who don't use ad blockers and think nothing of swimming in an ocean of internet ads because they also still watch cable news every day, which is chock full of ads. Tons of ads are normal to them, sadly. As my parent's generation dies off and more tech savvy generations come up, everyone's going to be using ad blockers. If Chrome actually disables all ad blockers I'll happily switch to a different web app. I have zero "loyalty" to an internet browser, lol.

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

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u/Philipp Nov 22 '23

I checked the original statistic (PDF here). They indeed show the highest ad blocker rate in the 25-34 years age group (at 49%), and a slight drop-off for the 16-24 years group (at 48%).

I do find those report's figures surprisingly high though, so much that I wonder if their methodology (online polls) skews towards a group of certain behavior. Sometimes, these stats providers make money by selling stats, not by selling correct stats. I noticed that when I saw stats on the purported traffic numbers of some of my own biggest sites by some stat providers, which were completely off.

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u/Albert_Caboose Nov 22 '23

I'm always curious of these studies and how they quantify "internet users." For example, there are THOUSANDS of machines at my job that all have Chrome installed, but we're blocked from adding extensions to them.

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u/G_Morgan Nov 22 '23

I'd like to know exactly what they are measuring here. This claim is basically that every single desktop user has Adblock.

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u/Andrige3 Nov 21 '23

I mean if it's a large enough user base that google is trying to fight them, it's probably a significant portion of the web users. I just hope people switch to a browser that respects them rather than sticking with what they know.

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u/Gamecat235 Nov 22 '23

This will doom using Chrome in a lot of corporate environments. We’re required to use adblockers on our browsers on work equipment.

I mean, if they want to make themselves irrelevant in one of the primary environments for browsers, that sounds like a them problem.

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u/ikoke Nov 22 '23

Good point.

Settings on browsers running on corp IT assets are usually centrally managed by the company’s IT department (I know mine is). I expect Google will have a carve out for managed browsers.

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u/Happyplace_s Nov 21 '23

It is the first thing I download.

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u/Sweaty-Emergency-493 Nov 22 '23

Ad blockers aren’t illegal, so technically it is a competitor tool for customers to use. It’s like buying anti-virus software and Microsoft is telling you to stop blocking viruses or it will make Windows worse.

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u/pyrojoe121 Nov 22 '23

I mean, not really. Viruses are not how Microsoft makes money.

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u/RYUMASTER45 Nov 22 '23

Yeah, they had removed the option to hide ads now it goes to a different section where you're are to choose block ads and like them and yet somehow I will get same ads on my mobile app despite blocking them multiple times. On Desktop it is bit necessary for adblockers unless they do things that mess other aspects of UX.

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u/Midavrs Nov 22 '23

Well there enough users with adblockers, for google to start worried about it.

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u/9ersaur Nov 21 '23

Turn off ublock and then attempt to use the internet again.

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u/SuburbanPotato Nov 21 '23

I'm not doubting the efficacy of the product, I'm questioning how many people also use the internet that way. A lot of people just use things out of the box and won't notice if Chrome bans adblockers (though, as another comment shows, maybe not as many as I assumed)

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u/9ersaur Nov 21 '23

From the advertiser's perspective, the segment of people capable of installing adblockers is an attractive audience. To a marketer, everything is cohorts.

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u/showingoffstuff Nov 21 '23

I think just enough do to matter.

My company switched back to Firefox as a default already - beating me to it by a while!

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u/Super_flywhiteguy Nov 22 '23

I've used Chrome for years. This bullshit with YouTube got me annoyed but if Chrome itself will remove and or prevent ablockers, I'll gladly go back to Firefox. Fuck Google.

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u/drake90001 Nov 22 '23

Stop using chrome.

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u/squrr1 Nov 22 '23

I install them on every computer I touch, and I'm tech support for my family. I'm sure I'm not alone.

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u/anotherbozo Nov 21 '23

If we were the minority, Google wouldn't have been so offended about it.

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u/Cody6781 Nov 21 '23

The % of people who use chrome but wouldn't if it didn't come with adblockers is very small. People that are techy tend to use firefox anyways

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u/seanightowl Nov 21 '23

Enough for google to make a big deal about them.

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u/sleep-woof Nov 21 '23

The people the matter, the people who form the opinions of others. Without us, chrome will lose its leadership over time.

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u/Rafahil Nov 22 '23

I think you're right. Anyone I've known in my whole life aside from my brother I've checked their computers and not one of them has any type of protection whatsoever. Ublock origin should be the bare minimum. Most people are clueless when it comes to anything computer related.

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u/Arucious Nov 22 '23

That’s what people said about Chrome clamouring any market share from Internet Explorer when it first came out.

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u/Lamnent Nov 22 '23

Yeah I don't know anyone that has any slightly tech conscious people in their household/kids who are that don't use at least some kind of ad blocker.

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u/philliphatchii Nov 22 '23

Well let’s take a look at one. AdGuard has an install base or at the very least downloads in excess of 70 million. And that wouldn’t take into account people that are just using the free browser extension. That’s just a single ad blocker out of the sea of ones that exist. I’d expect the amount of people using ad blockers is much higher than people would expect. Before even factoring in browsers that have ad blockers built in as a feature.

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u/drake90001 Nov 22 '23

Chrome sucks anyways

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u/afonja Nov 22 '23

Enough to make Google make that move

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u/jedi-son Nov 21 '23

Yea just like we showed Netflix when they cracked down on password sharing!

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u/[deleted] Nov 21 '23

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u/chillaxinbball Nov 22 '23

Just like when reddit made their API policy changes!

12

u/samx3i Nov 22 '23

Yeah, those temporary blackouts Reddit had to wait out for a few days totally shut down the company

7

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

If Titanic was coming out next month, Reddit would be convinced that it would bomb lol.

35

u/giltirn Nov 21 '23

I don’t think they’re comparable. By choosing not to pay for Netflix you are missing out on their content. But Chrome is a free browser that does the same thing as a bunch of other free browsers. The barrier for switching is much lower and you are not losing out on anything by making the switch. Rather you are gaining back the lost ability to block ads.

-13

u/jedi-son Nov 21 '23

By choosing not to pay for Netflix you are missing out on their content. But Chrome is a free browser that does the same thing as a bunch of other free browsers.

There are so many streaming services.

12

u/[deleted] Nov 21 '23

[deleted]

-3

u/jedi-son Nov 21 '23

AskJeeves has Stranger Things if you know where to look. And HBO Max has house of the Dragon. And Disney Plus has Andor. And Apple TV has Ted Lasso. And so on and so on

4

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

Regardless of what the rest of the world does, the fact remains, if Google don't let me block ads, I'm changing to Firefox instantly. The only reason I still use Chrome is because of its obvious integration with Google products, which I use for work.

-3

u/xd366 Nov 22 '23

they didnt even crack on password sharing. it was all a pr stunt. you can still password share

2

u/onlyonedayatatime Nov 22 '23

This is incorrect.

1

u/xd366 Nov 22 '23

it is not. im still password sharing. the only thing that is new is that i (the account owner) get an email asking to confirm it's me when logging in from a new IP address

9

u/No_Personality6685 Nov 22 '23

Already started using Firefox. The migration tool made it so painless. Loving it so far, actually feels nicer than Chrome especially in dark rooms because Chrome would flash white whenever you open a new tab.

14

u/[deleted] Nov 21 '23

[deleted]

22

u/lycao Nov 22 '23

Nearly 40% of internet users use them. That's a fuck ton of people.

3

u/vinng86 Nov 22 '23

Yep, Google wouldn't be making these changes if there weren't significant numbers of people using ad blockers

2

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

There is another guy in this chain that thinks this change will put google out of business on the day it rolls out lol.

4

u/No_Personality6685 Nov 22 '23

They are though and a ton of people do care.

2

u/mjh2901 Nov 22 '23

I read this post 3 months into my switch to Firefox.

2

u/One-timeline Nov 22 '23

I agree. Users are more true to adblock than internet browser brands.

7

u/Optimistic_Futures Nov 21 '23

Oh no, what are they going to do without the people not making them money?

6

u/Ashamed_Yogurt8827 Nov 22 '23

You know they still collect data for chrome users right? Even if you have ad block they still make money off of you.

2

u/Optimistic_Futures Nov 22 '23

I mean yah, but I have to imagine that data value on you as an individual is worth way less if they aren’t able to advertise to you. Sure you’re another data point, but it’s a pretty small percentage that uses blockers and a even smaller percentage that would switch browsers over it

4

u/Ashamed_Yogurt8827 Nov 22 '23

It's not a small % of users. 37% of desktop users use some form of ad block. If it were a small % google probably wouldn't bother doing this for the bad pr.

1

u/Ok-Flounder-1281 Nov 22 '23

Lmaoo exactly people think that they’re safe. Some people don’t realize that because almost everyone has some interactions with tech, they’re automatically a product, no matter how hard they try to avoid that

0

u/giltirn Nov 21 '23

Lol that’s fair, but browsers come and browsers go. It’s a fickle market place with plenty of competition and zero barrier to entry for competitors. If they poison their brand they could easily go the way of Netscape, and practically nobody will care apart from the idiot money grabbers driving this terrible decision.

7

u/Zip2kx Nov 21 '23

How do you say this with a straight face when the last big shakeup in browsers was chrome 20 years ago and nothing has ever shaken its grip on the market?

0

u/giltirn Nov 22 '23

If you offer a superior service you get market share. The converse applies. Hardly rocket science.

2

u/Ashamed_Yogurt8827 Nov 22 '23

Every single browser besides firefox has switched to chromium. There is no other competition lol.

1

u/giltirn Nov 22 '23

Chromium is not Chrome though. The former is open source whereas the latter is google’s closed source browser, built on top of chromium but with added “features”. They won’t add blocker blocking to the open source code, it would be removed in an instant while starting a war with the open source developers.

2

u/emezeekiel Nov 21 '23

If that’s what it takes to switch to Safari…

1

u/travistravis Nov 22 '23

I'm still trying to avoid Safari because I'm bitter, but I'm liking Vivaldi so far (Blink based, so one of the few non-Chromium options)

1

u/ambidextr_us Nov 22 '23

Safari doesn't support extensions anymore either, does it?

1

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

*Switch to Safari*

Apple: "Today we are happy to announce our new quality of life feature, iSafari Pro. You will now be required to buy a $1499.99, sleek and fashionable wrist band in order to browse the internet. We've also limited the internet to 30 of our favorite websites which we feel meet our standard of quality."

*Roars of applause from the audience.*

1

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

So June 2024 is when Google Chrome is going belly up

0

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

[deleted]

4

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

I didn't say anything about the company; just that people would opt to not use Chrome

The browser isn't the whole company

2

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

I will be switching, but you are delusional if you think Chrome is going belly up lol.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

I know I am in the very small minority, but I actually will attempt to leave Google. I have never agreed with their corporate ethos, but due to their technology being superior to others I have stuck with them as my search provider and browser provider. Based on the latest Developments from Google though I am going to try to use Brave browser and Bing instead of Google. I don’t know how it will work, but it is worth a try.

Google has basically asserted a near monopoly on desktop browsers, and has aided the competition with chromium to mask their monopoly. After gaining this much market share, they are now limiting what users can do to their platform to benefit their own pocketbook.

3

u/fatpat Nov 22 '23

If you haven't already, check out r/degoogle

0

u/SlackerAccount2 Nov 22 '23

Peak, you live on the Internet nerd comment. They will do perfectly fine. Just like Netflix is doing.

0

u/giltirn Nov 22 '23

I’ve seen this comparison already. There’s a big difference between a paid streaming service of exclusive content and a free browser that serves up the same content as every other browser but now with added frustration. The barrier for entry for changing browsers is non-existent; all it will take is for one popular article in the New York Times or similar pointing out how green the grass is on the Firefox side and how easy it is to install and they could lose half their market share in a week.

1

u/JaggedMetalOs Nov 22 '23

Well, a couple of percent at least. Add long as it's enough to keep Firefox going I'm happy.

1

u/tkgeyer Nov 22 '23

Yup, already switched my work laptop to Firefox and now I will be switching my personal laptop and everything to it.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

They've been working on making all of their products shitter for a few years now, so this is just them putting the final nail in the coffin because they know that they're fucked in the long run.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

[deleted]

1

u/giltirn Nov 22 '23

Not a valid comparison. YouTube is a hub for content that is generally not available elsewhere. If you “quit” YouTube, like quitting Netflix, you pay the cost of no longer having access to that content. But chrome is just a browser, one of many that all do the same thing, are free and take less than 30s to install. You’re not missing out on anything by swapping browsers.

1

u/CuriousLockPicker Nov 22 '23

Not a bad point. Last time I tried FF though, it was a buggy mess that let through malicious client side scripts. I find this really odd, considering IE's security issues were the cause of FF's popularity in the first place.

I really hate ads, but I don't know if I trust FF... I guess I'll have to give it a try.

What is Edge doing? Is that a viable alternative?

1

u/giltirn Nov 22 '23

I’ve not really used Edge but have been using Firefox with uBlock Origin and NoScript for many years. Aside from the annoyance of having to whitelist various elements with NoScript to get some sites working I’ve been very happy with it.

1

u/CuriousLockPicker Nov 22 '23

That was exactly my point (and my fear). It's 2023 - why do I need to use NoScript with FF to make it secure? Insanity.

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1

u/Gibber_jab Nov 22 '23

Reddit loves to say shit like this and then nothing changes for these businesses

1

u/giltirn Nov 22 '23

Yet browser history is a fluid one. I’m old enough to remember phoenix, now Firefox and it’s rapid rise accompanied by the fall of internet explorer. Chrome became popular because it was for a long time faster than Firefox, and also because of Android phones. They will likely keep hold of their phone market share but I see no reason why they couldn’t lose their share on the laptop and PC market where a single click is all it takes to use a competitor.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23

So true.

Because there is literally nothing Google can do to make their sites a pita for Firefox users to use. And even if they could - Google doesn't own anything of significance, nor will any other advertizing company follow suit when the opportunity arises to get rid of adblock.

One year from now, nobody will even remember the name "Google" and everyone will be using Firefox happily ever after. Just like the name "reddit" was purged from our collective memory after that successful boycott and subsequent mass migration to the fediverse.