It's been a long-time coming, but the days you'll see flashing banner ads warning 'Your Computer is Infected!', confusing 'Download Now!' buttons that redirect you to random sites, and chat-boxes that are actually just porn ads, are coming to an end. This is a big problem for porn sites, most of whom run on a 'let's trick our visitors into accidentally clicking on confusing / misleading / spammy banner ads which redirect them to cam sites and penis-enlargement scams' business model, are in big troube.

Starting on the 23rd of January, Google will release Chrome Version 64, which comes bundled with a new set of restrictions on 'Abusive Ad Experiences'. An ad is considered abusive if it:

   -Auto-redirects the page without user action
   -Resembles system or site warnings or error messages
   -Simulates messages, dialog boxes or request notifications
   -Shows user-interaction buttons that do not actually work
   -Displays a “close” button that does something other than closing the element when clicked
   -Imitates Antivirus Alerts
   -An autoplaying video ad with sound
   -Flashing animated ads with rapidly changing backgrounds and colours

If a site is found to contain 'Abusive Ads', the owners will be put on notice to correct the problem within 30 days. If they fail to do so, Google Chrome will automatically filter all ads to all visitors using Chrome Version 64 or higher. That's right; Google Chrome will have a built-in, automatic ad-blocker. And worse yet; having abusive ads will be considered a negative factor in Google's search-algorithm, meaning that the site's rankings on Google search results will take a hit.

Is this a welcome change, or is Google being too heavy-handed? Let us know what you think in the comments.