AdBlock Plus Will Use An Independent Board To Choose Ads To Unblock

One way that ad-blocking programs make money is, paradoxically, by showing you some ads. The popular add-on AdBlock Plus shows users ads that it deems “acceptable” by default, and has been accused of charging some publishers a percentage of the ad income that otherwise would have been lost. Now the maker of AdBlock Plus, Eyeo, is changing how it decides which ads deserve unblocking.

The “acceptable ads” whitelist is optional for users, but is turned on by default. The idea isn’t to abolish ads altogether, but to make the ads that people do see tolerable ones while supporting publishers. Small to medium publishers don’t have to pay to be let through, but large ones do. Eyeo hasn’t quantified what “large” means in this context.

How it works now is that publishers and advertisers apply for a spot on the whitelist, and members of the company’s forum evaluate the ads in question. The company has made the final selections, but today they announced that an independent board will make the decisions. They haven’t announced board members yet, but they’re likely to be representatives of different groups of stakeholders: advertisers, publishers, and Internet users.

AdBlock Plus creator to set up independent board to oversee ‘whitelist’ [Guardian]