Roger Fingas
Germany's Axel Springer — which owns newspapers like Bild and Die Welt — is pursuing legal action against the developers of Blockr, an ad blocker for iOS 9, reports said on Monday.
Axel Springer subsidiary WeltN24 is specifcally looking to halt both the development and distrubtion of the app, TechCrunch noted. Blockr strips ads from both the desktop and mobile renderings of Die Welt's website, among others.
In a hearing on Nov. 19, lawyers for Blockr argued that their software is legal and optional, a view the court reportedly backed. The court suggested moreover that Axel Springer has alternate ways of fighting ad blockers, such as halting access to a site when the software is detected — something Axel Springer has previously employed.
A final ruling on the matter is scheduled for Dec. 10.
Many websites and publishers have become concerned about ad blockers since, in many cases, the bulk of their revenue stems from advertising. The issue only intensified this fall thanks to Apple's support for third-party blockers with Safari View Controller in iOS 9.
Supporters of blockers note that many ads have become increasingly intrusive, even harming device performance, and that the software can help combat adware and malware.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
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Andrew Orr
96 Comments
Ad blockers don't block ads, people do.
The German conglomerate threatened Google with a lawsuit a couple years ago for not paying them everytime they showed up in a search result. Now this. At least they have a plan for replacing the lost revenue from print subscriptions. :rolleyes:
Ads are becoming worse than intrusive. One site had three ads on the screen at the same time. They would not clear until repeated attempts were made. Then, they popped up a video ad, then another ad. Use bandwidth I pay for, wastes time and irritating.
Tough. If their websites weren't so shitty and littered everywhere with ads I might be more sympathetic but as of right now I block all ads and do so happily sans remorse.
This effort to shutdown an ad blocker gives more exposure to ad blockers. As people become more annoyed with intrusive ads, they will turn to solutions that empower them to get rid of the intrusions. Publishers will one day learn they need readers more than readers need them.