4 Reasons To Think Twice Before Installing An Ad Blocker

Across the internet, page ads can be extremely prominent. Eradicating them is often offered as a subscription perk on services such as YouTube, but a lot of users resent the need to do so. In cases like these, your ad-blocking program or service of choice seems like a no-brainer, an invaluable means of keeping some of those pop-ups at bay. This absolutely can be the case, of course, and many of us take just that option. 

Nevertheless, it's important to be wary when using services like these. It's certainly true that they can make your experience smoother and websites much quicker and more convenient to navigate, but there are potentially significant downsides to ad blockers too. Before firing up those browser extensions, you should consider factors such as the actual functions of those ads and the heavy-handed approach blockers can take to prevent them from popping up on your screen. 

Other critical factors include doing the appropriate research to ensure that the ad blocker you choose is right for your system and your use cases, because there's a lot of variation in features and how they work, and you won't get the best results out of your system if you don't choose the right one. In fact, if you don't, you might even find yourself falling victim to scams or a program designed to allow access to your private data. There are lots of good reasons to use ad blockers, but there are also many reasons to be cautious before doing so.

As the AdBlock Help Center explains, its service, "like all ad blockers, relies on filter rules to know what to block, hide, and (in the case of allowlisted sites) allow to appear on the web pages you visit." The user selects filters that suit their preferences or creates their own, and the program then uses them to check whether a given URL matches the list. Downloads of any matches are prevented, so you don't see them.

These filters may be from lists such as Acceptable Ads, which is included with AdBlock by default and enables ads on select sites. While this particular feature has made AdBlock Plus an extension you might want to avoid, this level of customization might lead you to assume that all ad blockers are highly specific in their targeting. This isn't always the case. Unfortunately, these filters aren't universally compatible with every website, and so they might not work as intended. The issue is that these filters are changeable and potentially finicky, which means that your program might decide that a harmless element of a website (or even a critical one), like a video, is an ad or a tracking feature. If it does so, it could be blocked too. 

These systems, particularly the larger and more popular ones, are designed to function correctly across as many websites as possible. Issues of filter compatibility or incorrect settings (custom or default), however, can cause problems that might prevent a website from functioning at all. If a domain you frequently visit is displaying incorrectly, the extension you're using may be to blame. Try deactivating it and reloading to see if that resolves it.

A free version of an ad blocker may have limitations that are all but intended to persuade the user to upgrade to the paid model. For instance, they might not have the full complement of different filter types they could, or might have more restrictive settings. Wherever possible, if you can find a side-by-side comparison of the same product in both free and paid models, it's the best way to make an informed choice about the option that best fits your specific needs, from browsers that still support ad blockers to the specific type. 

Do note, though, that it's often best to go with a big, reputable, trusted company, because there's a lot at stake in choosing an ad blocker. One advantage of an ad blocker is its capacity to protect the user's data, and the possibility of exploiting this and instead allowing access is very dangerous. False extensions, sometimes imitations of high-profile blockers, can trick users on app stores into downloading them. Once active, they may use manipulative scripts to, for instance, add cookies to the user's browser. This might lead to degraded performance or purchases becoming affiliate purchases for the creator.

Of course, a legitimate ad blocker can be a very important weapon in the fight against so-called malvertisements, through which malicious false ads deceive users by seemingly being from a legitimate company. An even more devious layer on top of this, then, is malicious ad blockers that exploit these defensive issues. In December 2022, PCMag shared a statement from the FBI that said, "Use an ad-blocking extension when performing internet searches." Even more important than that, though, is understanding which service to use and why.

A lot of Internet users, of course, regard pop-up ads as an annoyance. There's also concern about internet access to data and search histories, with targeted ads able to determine exactly what the user has been searching for. Ads aren't intended as an annoyance, though. On the host's part, they're often essential for revenue. 

In other cases, revenue remains vital, but ads aren't used. One high-profile case is Wikipedia. Instead, the Wikimedia Foundation funds its efforts, which is why frequent donation requests will appear while using the site. Wikipedia claims that just 2% of its users donate towards the cause. That's where things can get a little murky, because while Wikipedia doesn't use conventional ads, many users surely have ad blockers enabled when using it. These donation requests could also be blocked. 

Many ad-supported websites, then, are more than aware of the threat posed by ad blockers and try to mitigate it. For example, they might use a small, harmless feature of a type that blockers will typically target, and then detect whether it's been apprehended to know that an ad blocker is active. With this knowledge, they might then request that it not be used. Users can choose to activate certain custom scripts to bypass this issue and potentially prevent these sorts of pop-ups from displaying, but in doing so, the vital revenue sources of your favorite creators and websites could suffer. This is why it's often more than a matter of simple convenience, and why it could be a good idea not to be so hasty with activating your ad blocker when it's not specifically needed. 

It can be tempting to think of an ad blocker as a one-stop shop for removing all pop-up ads, but it can be difficult to target only the specific issues you want to remove. An ad blocker is only as good as the scripts it's using. When set up correctly for the website in question, they can be very effective, but the rules can change from domain to domain. Because they can disable the wrong parts of websites, such as pop-ups that might be important to site functionality or which may provide important context (a video explainer on a scientific website, for instance), they should be used with more caution than you might expect. 

Back in 2015, Tumblr co-founder Marco Arment argued on his blog, "Web developers and standards bodies couldn't be more out of touch with this issue, racing ahead to give browsers and JavaScript even more capabilities without adequately addressing the fundamental problems that will drive many people to disable huge chunks of their browser's functionality." Simply describing ad blockers in those terms demonstrates the fundamental impact they can have on a user's browser, beyond just making annoying ads disappear. 

For one thing, of course, you may miss out on an advertisement or time-limited deal that you might have jumped on. For every ad that would miss the mark with a specific user, of course, there may be an exclusive option or two that they missed out on because of their ad blocker. That's the thing about their use: Far from a simple switch you can flick, they're quite a complicated breed of browser extensions with some genuine hazards you might not have been aware of.