Google Allegedly Paid Adblock Plus Not to Block its Ads

Google is allegedly on a crusade to serve you ads whether you want them or not—even if you have an extension like Adblock plus enabled. According to multiple reports, the search giant is allegedly paying good money to stay on a "whitelist" that prevents its ads from being blocked—pop-ups, banners, display ads, etc. More ads means more money, and software like Adblock Plus is just no good for Google's bottom line.

Anyone who has spent any amount of time on the Internet likely has some ad blocker installed; Adblock Plus is currently the single most popular extension for Chrome and Firefox. Pretty telling about the kind of Internet we live in. People obviously don't want ads shoved down their throats, but that's of little mind to an entity like Google.

Eyeo, maker of Adblock plus, actually introduced a whitelist initiative back in 2011, explaining that small websites should be allowed to serve ads (so the websites can make money!) as long as they're not obtrusive and annoying. Google is willing to pay good money (it's unclear how much, or even if it is) to stay on the extension's good side.

Ads are sometimes a catch-22; websites obviously need to keep the lights on, but nobody likes when ads become obtrusive and ruin the experience. Adblock plus exists to offer up websites as they'd exist without the business side being burned into our retinas. Neither Google or Adblock Plus commented on the situation.