The Google booth during the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, last month. The company introduced a new Chrome ad blocker on Thursday. Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg NewsPublishers are greeting the launch of Google’s ad blocker with a mixture of relief and unease, pleased that it is purging intrusive ads but worried over the internet giant’s power to quickly overhaul the industry. Beginning Thursday, Google Chrome, the world’s most popular web browser, will begin flagging advertising formats that fail to meet standards adopted by the Coalition for Better Ads, a group of advertising, tech and publishing companies, including Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc. GOOGL 0.84%“I think getting those bad ads out of the ecosystem is better for the rest of us who are doing these things well, but it’s worth discussing that one company has that much power over the internet and what gets monetized,” said Neil Vogel, the chief executive of Dotdash, a digital publisher with sites about topics such as health and wellness, home improvements and travel.

Source: Wall Street Journal February 15, 2018 10:30 UTC