Google planning to integrate ad blocker into Chrome?

Word is going around that Google is developing an ad blocker for Chrome that would be switched on by default. It's strange considering Google owns one of the largest advertising platforms in the world but the idea behind it is that this is a defensive move that targets "unacceptable ads" and has the goal to gain more control over the ad blocking market:

The report says "people familiar with the plans" describe the move as a "defensive" one. Ad blockers are gaining in popularity, and with Chrome's 50+ percent browser market share and auto-updating ability, the Chrome ad blocker would instantly become the most widely used solution out there. This would give Google control over the ad-blocking market, the ad industry as a whole, and even over its competitors, which offer many of the "unacceptable ad" formats the coalition is targeting. Third-party ad-blocking solutions like Adblock Plus actually charge websites money to display ads to Adblock Plus users, and Google is a member of this whitelist-for-cash program. Running its own ad-blocking program might shut out, or at least reduce, the fees the company pays to third parties like Adblock Plus.

Adage has a follow up and claims this is an industry-wide move that involves Google, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, WPP's ad-buying giant GroupM, Facebook, Thomson Reuters, The Washington Post, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and the Association of National Advertisers. These companies are cooperating via the Coalition for Better Ads.

"The end game here is to remove these types of ads which are undercutting the consumer internet experience," Ingis said. "Truthfully, those ads can potentially and seriously undercut the broader internet ecosystem."