this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2025
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Adblockers stop publishers serving ads to (or even seeing) 1bn web users - Press Gazette (pressgazette.co.uk)
submitted 1 week ago by 1984@lemmy.today to c/technology@lemmy.world
348 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

They call it "dark traffic" - ads that are not seen by tech-savvy users who have excellent ad blockers.

Not surprised that its growing. The web is unusable without an ad blocker and its only getting worse, and will continue to get worse every month.

(page 4) 50 comments
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[–] WraithGear@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago (4 children)

“And Scott Messer, founder of publishing adtech consultancy Messer Media, added: “Dark traffic is unlike anything we have seen before. It’s demonetising publisher content at scale without user consent. 

“Publishers already face an existential-level threat in the face of AI reducing referral traffic. This is another slice that publishers cannot afford to lose.””

https://youtu.be/ZTt-kfPvRks

[–] brot@feddit.org 4 points 6 days ago

The quote is even worse when you take this snippet from above:

The study discovered that the majority of users did not choose to block ads, with ad-blocking technology often activated by a third-party like their employer at a network level, their educational institution, security software they installed, or public Wi-Fi networks. For example ad-blocking tech can be bundled with VPNs (virtual private networks that hide a web user’s location) and built into browsers like BRave and Duck Duck Go. There are also dedicated apps and cross-platform brands such as AdGuard which describes itself as “the world’s most advanced ad blocker” that can “even” block on Youtube.

So they are trying to frame corporate security policies as "no consent". Which totally does not make sense as the contract the worker signed is consent for corporate IT to manage the computer and also to secure it against malware serves via ads. And to even suggest that users who are using a VPN with built in adblock or an alternative browser do not want to use the features the software they installed come with, is crap

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[–] zanyllama52@infosec.pub 8 points 6 days ago

Whatever number it is, it ain't big enough yet.

More power!

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

And the good old guilt tripping at the end, with the usual "quality content".

[–] bhamlin@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago

Oh no. 🎻

[–] Zotora@programming.dev 5 points 6 days ago

Well no one ever had to sell me on how nice a fire smells.

[–] JayGray91@piefed.social 7 points 6 days ago

I confess that I don't have the money to frequently donate and fund the services that I use (if they allow to donate) and recognize long time ago ads would be an okay alternative. but like everyone said, ads just became a lot more cancerous and have to block it. despite the shortcomings of the FBI, even they advise to use adblockers.

though I guess I just have to suck it up and donate once in a while as well.

[–] HexesofVexes@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago

Well now, here's one that comes up under "other".

I started using an adblocker because I was using an elderly netbook for my studies. Ads junked up resource usage so much they used to freeze my laptop, and render most sites unusable.

Thanks to my adblock, I was able to finish my studies.

These days I use adblock because I object to virus-like code execution on my hardware. I tell others about adblock and get them set up to get free tea/coffee (and to watch their faces as sites become usable again).

The quiet mention of the 12ft.io being taken down is disturbing, it was a good tool for students to read article sources. This kind of change forces them to rely on AI (Gemini respects paywalks, Copilot just ignores them), which risks misinformation being spread!

[–] Confused_Emus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I run uBlock Origin for the browsers, and Pi-Hole for the network. Plus a wireguard VPN server that my phone connects to when I’m not on the home wifi for ad-blocking on the go.

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[–] Jason2357@lemmy.ca 5 points 6 days ago

Largest boycott in human history.

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