Adblock Sold Out, Reportedly Allowing Companies to Pay to Have Their Ads Slip Through Filters

Complex
You've changed, Adblock Plus.

As it turns out, you’re not really safe from annoying ads on the Internet anymore. Slate is reporting that Adblock Plus is going against its namesake and allowing companies to pay to have their advertisements slip through its filters.

According to reports, the free app began letting 70 companies with about 700 ads evade its blockers and things may soon get worse. The Wall Street Journal says that Eyeo GmbH, the company behind the popular app, “is now reaching out to developers of other ad-blocking tools to cut deals that allow certain ads to pass ads through their filters, too.”

With no revenue coming from its users, this change was inevitable. However, don’t panic just yet. Eyeo is sticking to its original policy and will continue to block ads that are too disruptive or invasive to users. And while some may see this as a defeat, Eyeo maintains that its service has not been compromised. “There is no way to buy a spot on the Acceptable Ads exception list.”'

Companies supposedly on the whitelist include Google, Microsoft and Taboola.

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