12 Facts About Adblock Plus

1.

Adblock Plus is a free and open-source browser extension for content-filtering and ad blocking.

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2.

In 2010, AdBlock Plus acquired the existing AdThwart extension for Chrome.

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3.

Adblock Plus was released as an app for Android devices in November 2012.

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4.

Adblock Plus has been available for Internet Explorer since August 2013, Safari since January 2014, and Yandex Browser since December 2014.

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5.

Adblock Plus has created an independent board to review what is an acceptable ad and what is not.

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6.

Adblock Plus includes the ability to use one or more external filter subscriptions that are automatically updated.

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7.

Axel Springer SE has filed a court order for the removal of the Adblock Plus post though there is a redacted version and people have posted videos and posts on how to get around the Axel Springer wall.

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8.

In 2012, Adblock Plus's managing director Till Faida told the Swiss newspaper Thurgauer Zeitung that the "strategic partners" on Adblock Plus's whitelist would not be named, but that the partnership is part of the company's "Acceptable Ads" whitelist project.

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9.

In June 2013, blogger Sascha Pallenberg accused the developers of Adblock Plus of maintaining business connections to "strategic partners in the advertising industry", and called ABP a "mafia-like advertising network".

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10.

Adblock Plus alleged that Adblock Plus whitelisted all ads coming from "friendly" sites and subsidiaries, and promoted their product using fake reviews and pornography.

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11.

Adblock Plus said that the company is convinced that the "acceptable ads" business model will be successful and says that the whitelisting criteria are "completely transparent".

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12.

Attacks were made in 2016 against ad-blocking with paid whitelists—though Adblock Plus was not mentioned by name—by content providers who provide content free of charge to users, deriving revenue from advertisements, and by industry and government sources who criticise the "unsavoury" business model, which has been described as a "modern-day protection racket".

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