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{{Distinguish|AdBlock}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox software
| name = Adblock Plus
| logo = [[File:Adblock Plus 2014 Logo.svg|150px]]
| screenshot =
| caption =
| developer = Eyeo GmbH<ref>{{cite web|last=Palant|first=Wladimir|title=Introducing Eyeo GmbH, the company behind Adblock Plus|url=https://adblockplus.org/blog/introducing-eyeo-gmbh-the-company-behind-adblock-plus|publisher=Adblockplus.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Hern|first=Alex|title=Adblock Plus: the tiny plugin threatening the internet's business model|url=http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/14/the-tiny-german-company-threatening-the-internets-business-model|publisher=Theguardian.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Sartoros|first1=Alkimos|last2=Dernbach|first2=Christoph|title=Adblock Plus: Erpresser-Vorwürfe gegen umstrittenen Werbeblocker ''(German)''|url=http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzpolitik/adblock-plus-vorwuerfe-gegen-umstrittenen-werbeblocker-a-909207.html|publisher=Spiegel.de}}</ref> <br />'''Current lead developer:'''<br />Wladimir Palant'''<br />Former lead developers:'''<br />Henrik Aasted S&oslash;rensen,<br />Michael McDonald
| released = 2006
| frequently updated = yes
| programming language = [[JavaScript]], [[XUL]], [[Cascading Style Sheets|CSS]]
| operating system = [[Cross-platform]]
| genre = [[Add-on (Mozilla)|Mozilla extension]]<br/>[[Android (operating system)#Applications|Android application]]
| license = [[GNU General Public License|GPL]]
| website = [https://adblockplus.org/ adblockplus.org]
}}
'''Adblock Plus''' ('''ABP''') is an [[open-source]]<ref name="open-source01">{{cite web |url=http://adblockplus.org/en/about |title=Adblock Plus : About |author=Adblock Plus |publisher=Adblock Plus |accessdate=June 20, 2012}}</ref><ref name="open-source02">{{cite web |url=http://adblockplus.org/en/source |title=Adblock Plus : Source Code |author=Adblock Plus |publisher=Adblock Plus |accessdate=June 20, 2012}}</ref> [[Content filtering|content-filtering]] and [[ad blocking]] [[List of Firefox extensions|extension]] developed by Eyeo GmbH (Wladimir Palant), a German software developer. The extension has been released for [[Mozilla Firefox]] (including [[Firefox for mobile]]<ref name="mobile">{{cite web |url=https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/mobile/addon/adblock-plus/ |title=Adblock Plus :: Add-ons for Mozilla |author=Mozilla |publisher=Mozilla |accessdate=July 10, 2011}}</ref>), [[Google Chrome]], [[Internet Explorer]], [[Opera (web browser)|Opera]], [[Safari (web browser)|Safari]], [[Yandex Browser]] and [[Android (operating system)|Android]].

In 2011, AdBlock Plus and Eyeo attracted [[Adblock Plus#Controversy over ad filtering and ad whitelisting|considerable controversy]] from its users when it introduced an "Acceptable Ads" program to allow "certain non-intrusive ads" (such as [[Google AdWords]]) to be allowed under the extension's default settings. In 2013, the Financial Times reported that Google, Microsoft, and other major companies in the web advertising business had been paying Eyeo upwards of $120 million per year for their ads to be whitelisted. As a result, developers have created competing adblockers such as [[UBlock]] which do not have Acceptable Ads programs.

==History and statistics==
Michael McDonald created Adblock Plus 0.5, which improved on the original Adblock by incorporating the following features:
* [[whitelist]]ing
* support for blocking background images
* subscription to filters with a fixed address and automatic updates
* the ability to hide [[HTML element]]s, allowing a greater range of images to be blocked
* the ability to hide ads on a per-site basis, instead of globally
* [[memory leak]] fixes
* improvements to the [[user interface]]

McDonald discontinued development and transferred the name to Wladimir Palant, who released Adblock Plus 0.6 with a rewritten codebase in January 2006.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://adblockplus.org/en/about |title=About Adblock Plus |publisher=Adblockplus.org |date= |accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> ''[[PC World (magazine)|PC World]]'' chose Adblock Plus as one of the 100 best products of 2007.<ref>{{cite web| title = PC World - The 100 Best Products of 2007 | publisher = [[PC World (magazine)|PC World]] | url = http://www.pcworld.com/article/131935-11/the_100_best_products_of_2007.html
| accessdate = August 19, 2007}}</ref>

Adblock Plus for Google Chrome has been available since December 2010 and has over 10 million users.<ref>{{cite web|author=adblockplus.org
|url=https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cfhdojbkjhnklbpkdaibdccddilifddb |title=Adblock Plus for Google Chrome™ (Beta) - Chrome Web Store |publisher=Chrome.google.com |date=October 27, 2011 |accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> It has also become the most popular extension for Firefox, with around 18 million users as of March 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus/statistics/usage/ |title= Statistics for Adblock Plus |publisher=Mozilla |date=January 17, 2006 |accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref>

Adblock Plus was released as an app for [[Android (operating system)|Android]] devices in November 2012.

On March 3, 2013, the Android app was removed from the [[Google Play#Google Play Store|Google Play Store]] along with similar ad blocking apps.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Adblock Plus and (a little) more: Adblock Plus for Android removed from Google Play store|url = https://adblockplus.org/blog/adblock-plus-for-android-removed-from-google-play-store|website = adblockplus.org|accessdate = 2015-08-13}}</ref> Some apps remain in the Play Store with the caveat that they require [[Rooting (Android OS)|root access]] in order to function. Adblock Plus, while not in the Play Store, is still available on the app's website. User's can download the [[Android application package|.apk file]] directly and install it as a third-party app if they allow "Unknown Sources" in Android settings.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Install Adblock Plus for Android|url = https://adblockplus.org/en/android-install|website = adblockplus.org|accessdate = 2015-08-13}}</ref>

Adblock Plus has been available for [[Internet Explorer]] since August 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://adblockplus.org/releases/adblock-plus-10-for-internet-explorer-released|title=Adblock Plus 1.0 for Internet Explorer released|publisher=Adblock Plus |accessdate=September 26, 2013}}</ref>

Adblock Plus has been available for [[Safari (web browser)|Safari]] since January 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://adblockplus.org/releases/adblock-plus-for-safari-beta-released|title=Adblock Plus for Safari Beta released|accessdate=January 21, 2014}}</ref>

Adblock Plus has been available for [[Yandex Browser]] since December 2014.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Williams|first1=Ben|title=Adblock Plus now available on Yandex Browser|url=https://adblockplus.org/blog/adblock-plus-now-available-on-yandex-browser|publisher=Adblock Plus|accessdate=23 January 2015}}</ref>

An Adblock Plus [[Web browser|browser]] beta version was made available on May 2015, called the "[https://adblockplus.org/en/adblock-browser Adblock Browser]".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Williams|first1=Ben|title=Adblock Browser is here|url=https://adblockplus.org/blog/adblock-browser-is-here|accessdate=20 May 2015|date=20 May 2015}}</ref> Adblock Browser 1.0 was released on 7 September 2015, based on [[Firefox for mobile]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Adblock Browser for Android |publisher=Google Play Store |date=2015-09-07 |url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.adblockplus.browser |accessdate=2015-09-09}}</ref>

Adblock Plus has created an independent board to review what is an acceptable ad and what is not<ref>{{Cite web|title = Adblock Plus creators plan independent board to decide ad acceptability|url = http://www.pcworld.com/article/2988079/browsers/adblock-plus-creators-plan-independent-board-to-decide-ad-acceptability.html|accessdate = 2015-10-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = AdBlock Plus to introduce independent board to oversee Acceptable Ads program|url = http://betanews.com/2015/09/30/adblock-plus-to-introduce-independent-board-to-oversee-acceptable-ads-program/|website = BetaNews|accessdate = 2015-10-05}}</ref>

==Operation==
[[File:Compaadblocker.png|250PX|thumb|right|A website hosting Google ads with and without Adblock Plus]]
Like Mozilla's built-in image blocker, Adblock Plus blocks [[Hypertext Transfer Protocol|HTTP]] and [[HTTPS]] requests according to their source address and additional context information and can block [[Iframes|iframe]]s, [[JavaScript|script]]s, and [[Adobe Flash|Flash]]. It also uses automatically generated user [[Style sheet (web development)|stylesheets]] to hide elements such as text ads on a page as they load instead of blocking them, known as element hiding.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://adblockplus.org/en/faq_internal#elemhide |title=FAQ - Adblock Plus internals |publisher=Adblockplus.org |date= |accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref>

===Android===
On rooted devices, the Android app blocks all web traffic including mobile networks. For non-rooted devices, ads are only blocked through a [[Wi-Fi|Wi-Fi connection]] and require the user to set up a manual proxy server.<ref>{{Cite web|title = About Adblock Plus for Android|url = https://adblockplus.org/en/android-about|website = adblockplus.org|accessdate = 2015-08-13}}</ref> Ads are only blocked on individual Wi-Fi connections and users must manually configure the proxy server for each individual network in order for the app to function. The app uses a local proxy server to intercept web traffic and remove ads before showing ad-free content to the user. Most of the content that users are trying to avoid is successfully blocked, though some content is missed and the app is not as reliable at blocking ads as the browser versions. The app can be configured to auto-start every time the device reboots, minimizing the action required by the user.

===Filters===
Basic filter rules can include wildcards represented by asterisks (<code>*</code>). Sites and objects can be [[whitelist]]ed with filters that start with two ''at'' signs (<code>@@</code>). [[Regular expression]]s delimited by slashes (<code>/</code>) can be used. Adblock Plus also supports a more-sophisticated syntax that gives fine-grain control over filters.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://adblockplus.org/en/filters#options |title=Writing Adblock Plus filters |publisher=Adblockplus.org |date= |accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref>
An example of the sophisticated filtering would be <code>wikipedia.org##div#centralNotice</code>, which will hide the centralNotice element used by Wikipedia to display donation requests.

===Filter subscriptions===
Users can add external filtersets. Adblock Plus includes the ability to use one or more external filter subscriptions that are automatically updated. [[Filterset.G]] is incompatible with this system (and Adblock Plus specifically recommends against using Filterset.G for other reasons as well), but other filtersets can be added by typing their addresses. A list of known Adblock Plus subscriptions is maintained on the Adblock Plus [[#External links|official website]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://adblockplus.org/en/subscriptions|title=Known Adblock Plus subscriptions|publisher=adblockplus.org}}</ref>

EasyList<ref>[https://easylist.adblockplus.org/ EasyList]</ref> was the most popular Adblock Plus filter list as of August 2011, with over 12 million subscribers.<ref>{{Cite news| url=https://easylist.adblockplus.org/blog/2011/09/01/easylist-statistics:-august-2011 | work=EasyList | title=EasyList Statistics: August 2011 | date=September 1, 2011 | accessdate=September 2, 2011}}/</ref> Created by Rick Petnel,<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/24/AR2008062401287.html | work=The Washington Post | title=One Man, One Long List, No More Web Ads | first=Peter | last=Whoriskey | date=June 25, 2008 | accessdate=April 23, 2010}}</ref> it became officially recommended by the Adblock Plus program, and filter lists for other languages were built on top of it. Petnel died in 2009<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/timesunion-albany/obituary-preview.aspx?n=richard-j-petnel&pid=125731751&referrer=1329 |title=Richard J. Petnel Obituary: View Richard Petnel's Obituary by Albany Times Union |publisher=Legacy.com |date= |accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://adblockplus.org/blog/sad-news |title=Adblock Plus and (a little) more: Sad news |publisher=Adblockplus.org |date= |accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> following which Palant named a user going by the name "Ares2" as the new maintainer.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://adblockplus.org/blog/what-is-going-on-with-easylist |title=Adblock Plus and (a little) more: What is going on with EasyList |publisher=Adblockplus.org |date= |accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> The filter lists EasyList and EasyPrivacy are both subscribed by default in [[uBlock]] but not in Adblock Plus itself.

In May 2013, the second most popular Adblock Plus filter list, Fanboy's List, was merged with EasyList.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://easylist.adblockplus.org/blog/2013/05/17/easylist-merges-with-fanboy-s-list |title=EasyList merges with Fanboy's List |publisher=EasyList |date=May 17, 2013|accessdate=September 3, 2013}}</ref>

==Controversy over ad filtering and ad whitelisting==
{{Main|Ad filtering}}
The owners of some websites which use third party hosted [[online advertising]] to fund the hosting of their websites have argued that the use of ad-blocking software such as Adblock Plus risks cutting off their revenue stream.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wordswithmeaning.org/2012/04/an-open-letter-regarding-adblock-and-revenue-loss/ |title=An Open Letter Regarding AdBlock and Revenue Loss |publisher=wordswithmeaning.org |date=April 19, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://arstechnica.com/business/2010/03/why-ad-blocking-is-devastating-to-the-sites-you-love/|title=Why Ad Blocking is devastating to the sites you love |publisher=[[Ars Technica]]|date=March 6, 2010}}</ref> While some websites such as ''[[The New York Times]]'' and ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' have successfully implemented subscription and membership based [[paywall]] systems for revenue,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/two-years-of-the-new-york-times-paywall/s2/a552534/ |title=Two years in: Reflections on the New York Times paywall |publisher=[[journalism.co.uk]] |date=March 28, 2013}}</ref> many websites today rely on third party hosted online advertising to function. In 2007, web developer Danny Carlton described the use of adblockers as tantamount to theft,<ref name="iw2007-12">{{cite web |last=McDougall |first=Paul |url=http://www.informationweek.com/news/201805865 |title=Firefox Adblock Foe Calls For Mozilla Boycott |work=[[InformationWeek]] |date=September 12, 2007 |accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> and called for other site owners to block the [[Firefox]] web browser from their websites to deter its use.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2007/aug/19/adblockingis|title=Ad blocking is theft, so block Firefox instead (updated)|work=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=August 10, 2007}}</ref>

On December 5, 2011, Wladimir Palant announced that certain "acceptable" ads would be whitelisted in upcoming builds of the Adblock Plus software, with the option to remove whitelisted ads via a custom setting in the software. According to Palant, only static advertisements with a maximum of one script will be permitted as "acceptable", with a preference towards text-only content. The announcement created some controversy both at Adblock Plus's website and at [[social media]] sites like [[Reddit]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Palant |first=Wladimir |url=https://adblockplus.org/development-builds/allowing-acceptable-ads-in-adblock-plus |title=Allowing acceptable ads in Adblock Plus |publisher=Adblock Plus |date=December 5, 2011 |accessdate=December 12, 2011}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thurgauerzeitung.ch/aktuell/digital/Mit-aufdringlicher-Werbung-uebertrieben;art119505,3206247 |title=Mit aufdringlicher Werbung übertrieben |language=German |date=November 20, 2012}}</ref> In February 2013, an anonymous source accused Adblock Plus developer Wladimir Palant of offering to add his site's advertisements to the whitelist in return for one-third of the advertisement revenue.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/adblock-plus-accused-of-shaking-down-websites/|title=Media mafiosos: Is Adblock Plus shaking down websites for cash to let ads through?|publisher=[[Digital Trends]]|date=February 21, 2013}}</ref> 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".<ref name=thehsa>{{cite web|url=http://www.h-online.com/newsticker/news/item/Serious-accusations-against-Adblock-Plus-1897360.html|title=Serious accusations against Adblock Plus |publisher=[[The H]]|date=June 26, 2013}}</ref> He alleged that Adblock Plus whitelisted all ads coming from "friendly" sites and subsidiaries, and promoted their product using fake reviews and pornography.<ref name=techeye1>{{cite web |url=http://news.techeye.net/business/adblock-denies-ad-fixing-allegations|title=Adblock Plus denies ad fixing allegations |publisher=[[TechEye]] |date=June 27, 2013}}</ref> Faida responded to Pallenberg's accusations, stating that "a large part of the information concerning the collaboration with our partners is correct," but that the company did not see these industry connections as a [[conflict of interest]]. He said that the company is convinced that the "acceptable ads" business model will be successful and says that the whitelisting criteria are "completely transparent".<ref name=thehsa/> He also stated that "We have an initiative called Acceptable Ads to support websites with unobtrusive ads. Every website can participate. The [Pallenberg] article on purpose just slanders our good name".<ref name=techeye1/>

In response to the "acceptable ads" whitelisting, [[Fork (software development)|forks]] of Adblock Plus were created such as Adblock Edge<ref>[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-edge/ Adblock Edge at Mozilla Add-ons].</ref> and the now defunct Adblock Lite.<ref>[https://addons.mozilla.org/en/firefox/addon/adblock_lite/ Adblock Lite at Mozilla Add-ons].</ref>
===Legal Challenge===
===Legal Challenge===
In December 2014 it was reported that [[Zeit Online|Zeit Online GmbH]] and [[Handelsblatt|Handelsblatt GmbH]] had brought suit against Eyeo GmbH in the [[Landgericht Hamburg]].<ref>{{Internetquelle|url=http://www.horizont.net/medien/nachrichten/Adblocker-Klage-Auch-Zeit-Online-klagt-gegen-Adblock-Plus-Mutter-Eyeo-131979|hrsg=[[Horizont (Zeitschrift)|horizont.net]]|titel=Auch Zeit Online klagt gegen Adblock-Plus-Mutter Eyeo|sprache=de|datum=2014-12-17|zugriff=2015-06-04}}</ref><ref>{{Internetquelle|url=http://www.internetworld.de/onlinemarketing/adblocker/adblock-plus-axel-springer-klagt-eyeo-911380.html|hrsg=Internet World Business|titel=Prozessauftakt in Köln - Adblock Plus: Axel Springer klagt gegen Eyeo|sprache=de|datum=2015-03-11|zugriff=2015-03-15}}</ref><ref>{{Internetquelle|url=http://www.internetworld.de/onlinemarketing/adblocker/sueddeutsche-klagt-adblock-plus-912568.html|hrsg=Internet World Business|titel=Auch Süddeutsche klagt gegen Adblock Plus|sprache=de|zugriff=2015-03-15|datum=2015-03-13}}</ref>
In December 2014 it was reported that [[Zeit Online|Zeit Online GmbH]] and [[Handelsblatt|Handelsblatt GmbH]] had brought suit against Eyeo GmbH in the [[Landgericht Hamburg]].<ref>{{Internetquelle|url=http://www.horizont.net/medien/nachrichten/Adblocker-Klage-Auch-Zeit-Online-klagt-gegen-Adblock-Plus-Mutter-Eyeo-131979|hrsg=[[Horizont (Zeitschrift)|horizont.net]]|titel=Auch Zeit Online klagt gegen Adblock-Plus-Mutter Eyeo|sprache=de|datum=2014-12-17|zugriff=2015-06-04}}</ref><ref>{{Internetquelle|url=http://www.internetworld.de/onlinemarketing/adblocker/adblock-plus-axel-springer-klagt-eyeo-911380.html|hrsg=Internet World Business|titel=Prozessauftakt in Köln - Adblock Plus: Axel Springer klagt gegen Eyeo|sprache=de|datum=2015-03-11|zugriff=2015-03-15}}</ref><ref>{{Internetquelle|url=http://www.internetworld.de/onlinemarketing/adblocker/sueddeutsche-klagt-adblock-plus-912568.html|hrsg=Internet World Business|titel=Auch Süddeutsche klagt gegen Adblock Plus|sprache=de|zugriff=2015-03-15|datum=2015-03-13}}</ref>
In April 2015 the court rejected the suit.<ref>[http://www.rechtsprechung-hamburg.de/jportal/portal/page/bsharprod.psml?doc.id=JURE150011562&st=ent&doctyp=juris-r&showdoccase=1 Landsgericht Hamburg 16. Kammer für Handelssachen, Urteil vom 21.04.2015, 416 HKO 159/14] (Anonymized)</ref><ref>{{Internetquelle|url=https://adblockplus.org/blog/restating-the-obvious-adblocking-declared-legal|titel=Restating the obvious: adblocking declared legal.|autor=Ben Williams|werk=Adblock Plus and (a little) more|sprache=en|datum=2015-04-21 |zugriff=2015-10-25}}</ref><ref>{{Internetquelle|url=http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Landgericht-Hamburg-Adblock-Plus-darf-weiter-blocken-2616148.html|hrsg=heise online|titel=Landgericht Hamburg: Adblock Plus darf weiter blocken|datum=2015-04-21|sprache=de|zugriff=2015-04-30}}</ref> axel springer has filed a court order for removal of adblock plus post<ref>{{Cite web|title = AdBlock Plus accuses Axel Springer of censorship after ad-block move - Digiday|url = http://digiday.com/publishers/adblock-plus-accuses-axel-springer-censorship-ad-block-move/|website = Digiday|accessdate = 2015-11-13|language = en-US}}</ref> though there is a redacted version<ref>{{Cite web|title = Adblock Plus • View topic - bild.de adblock detect unskippable|url = https://adblockplus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=41068|website = adblockplus.org|accessdate = 2015-11-13}}</ref> and people are posting videos and posts on how to get around the axel springer wall<ref>{{Citation|url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCg8uYZi0wI|accessdate = 2015-11-13}}</ref>
In April 2015 the court rejected the suit.<ref>[http://www.rechtsprechung-hamburg.de/jportal/portal/page/bsharprod.psml?doc.id=JURE150011562&st=ent&doctyp=juris-r&showdoccase=1 Landsgericht Hamburg 16. Kammer für Handelssachen, Urteil vom 21.04.2015, 416 HKO 159/14] (Anonymized)</ref><ref>{{Internetquelle|url=https://adblockplus.org/blog/restating-the-obvious-adblocking-declared-legal|titel=Restating the obvious: adblocking declared legal.|autor=Ben Williams|werk=Adblock Plus and (a little) more|sprache=en|datum=2015-04-21 |zugriff=2015-10-25}}</ref><ref>{{Internetquelle|url=http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Landgericht-Hamburg-Adblock-Plus-darf-weiter-blocken-2616148.html|hrsg=heise online|titel=Landgericht Hamburg: Adblock Plus darf weiter blocken|datum=2015-04-21|sprache=de|zugriff=2015-04-30}}</ref>

==Detection==
Some webmasters have used [[JavaScript]] to detect the effects of the popular Adblock Plus filters.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://adblockdetector.com/ |title=(v. 1.0) - A JavaScript way of doing ad block detection |publisher=Adblock Detector |date= |accessdate=February 11, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.browserleaks.com/proxy |title=Content Filters and Proxy Detection |date= |accessdate=February 11, 2013}}</ref> This is done by generating a [[honeypot (computing)|honeypot]]-like URL, verifying its delivery, and [[Document Object Model|DOM]] verification after the web page is rendered by the web browser, to ensure the expected advertising elements are present. Detection is simplified since the extension is not yet capable of replacing content; Loopback proxies provide this additional functionality.

These methods do not detect the presence of the Adblock Plus extension directly, only the effects of the filters. They are vulnerable to continued filter updates, and whitelist-filtering web scripts with extensions such as [[NoScript]].

An attempt was made to detect the plug-in itself, but that detection method was rendered unusable by the 0.7.5.2 update of Adblock Plus.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://adblockplus.org/en/changelog-0.7.5.2 |title=Detailed changelog for Adblock Plus 0.7.5.2 |publisher=Adblockplus.org |date= |accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref>

Google Chrome had a defect in [[Content Security Policy]] that allowed the detection of any installed extension, including Adblock Plus for Google Chrome.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.kotowicz.net/2012/02/intro-to-chrome-addons-hacking.html |title=Intro to Chrome addons hacking: fingerprinting |date= |accessdate=February 11, 2013}}</ref> The solution of this was possible only in Google Chrome 18, and requires each developer to make some changes in their extensions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://developer.chrome.com/stable/extensions/tut_migration_to_manifest_v2.html |title=Google Chrome Extensions: Migrate to Manifest V2 |publisher=Google |date= |accessdate=February 11, 2013}}</ref> Adblock Plus for Google Chrome fixed this in version 1.3.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://adblockplus.org/releases/adblock-plus-13-for-google-chrome-released |title=Adblock Plus 1.3 for Google Chrome™ released |publisher=Adblockplus.org |date= |accessdate=February 11, 2013}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[AdBlock]]
* [[uBlock]]

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
* {{Official website}}
* {{F-Droid|org.adblockplus.android|AdBlock Plus}}
* {{Cite news |author=NPR Staff |date=July 20, 2015 |title=With Ad Blocking Use on the Rise, What Happens to Online Publishers? |url=http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2015/07/20/424630545/with-ad-blocking-use-on-the-rise-what-happens-to-online-publishers |work=[[All Things Considered]] |publisher=[[NPR]] |access-date=July 20, 2015}} Contains a short interview with Adblock Plus Chairman Tim Schumacher.

[[Category:2006 software]]
[[Category:Advertising-free media]]
[[Category:Android (operating system) software]]
[[Category:Anti-spam]]
[[Category:Firefox add-ons]]
[[Category:Firewall software]]
[[Category:Free and open-source Android software]]
[[Category:Google Chrome extensions]]
[[Category:Internet advertising]]

Revision as of 03:35, 13 November 2015

Not to be confused with AdBlock.

Adblock Plus
Developer(s)Eyeo GmbH[1][2][3]
Current lead developer:
Wladimir Palant
Former lead developers:
Henrik Aasted Sørensen,
Michael McDonald
Initial release2006
Stable release
Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Opera3.21 / November 9, 2023; 11 months ago (2023-11-09)[4]
Safari2.2.3 / February 28, 2023; 20 months ago (2023-02-28)[5]
Internet Explorer1.6 / January 3, 2017; 7 years ago (2017-01-03)[6]
Android1.3 / March 3, 2015; 9 years ago (2015-03-03)[7]
Samsung Internet1.2.0 / March 5, 2019; 5 years ago (2019-03-05)[8]
Written inJavaScript, XUL, CSS
Operating systemCross-platform
TypeMozilla extension
Android application
LicenseGPL
Websiteadblockplus.org

Adblock Plus (ABP) is an open-source[9][10] content-filtering and ad blocking extension developed by Eyeo GmbH (Wladimir Palant), a German software developer. The extension has been released for Mozilla Firefox (including Firefox for mobile[11]), Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, Yandex Browser and Android.

In 2011, AdBlock Plus and Eyeo attracted considerable controversy from its users when it introduced an "Acceptable Ads" program to allow "certain non-intrusive ads" (such as Google AdWords) to be allowed under the extension's default settings. In 2013, the Financial Times reported that Google, Microsoft, and other major companies in the web advertising business had been paying Eyeo upwards of $120 million per year for their ads to be whitelisted. As a result, developers have created competing adblockers such as UBlock which do not have Acceptable Ads programs.

History and statistics

Michael McDonald created Adblock Plus 0.5, which improved on the original Adblock by incorporating the following features:

  • whitelisting
  • support for blocking background images
  • subscription to filters with a fixed address and automatic updates
  • the ability to hide HTML elements, allowing a greater range of images to be blocked
  • the ability to hide ads on a per-site basis, instead of globally
  • memory leak fixes
  • improvements to the user interface

McDonald discontinued development and transferred the name to Wladimir Palant, who released Adblock Plus 0.6 with a rewritten codebase in January 2006.[12] PC World chose Adblock Plus as one of the 100 best products of 2007.[13]

Adblock Plus for Google Chrome has been available since December 2010 and has over 10 million users.[14] It has also become the most popular extension for Firefox, with around 18 million users as of March 2014.[15]

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

On March 3, 2013, the Android app was removed from the Google Play Store along with similar ad blocking apps.[16] Some apps remain in the Play Store with the caveat that they require root access in order to function. Adblock Plus, while not in the Play Store, is still available on the app's website. User's can download the .apk file directly and install it as a third-party app if they allow "Unknown Sources" in Android settings.[17]

Adblock Plus has been available for Internet Explorer since August 2013.[18]

Adblock Plus has been available for Safari since January 2014.[19]

Adblock Plus has been available for Yandex Browser since December 2014.[20]

An Adblock Plus browser beta version was made available on May 2015, called the "Adblock Browser".[21] Adblock Browser 1.0 was released on 7 September 2015, based on Firefox for mobile.[22]

Adblock Plus has created an independent board to review what is an acceptable ad and what is not[23][24]

Operation

File:Compaadblocker.png
A website hosting Google ads with and without Adblock Plus

Like Mozilla's built-in image blocker, Adblock Plus blocks HTTP and HTTPS requests according to their source address and additional context information and can block iframes, scripts, and Flash. It also uses automatically generated user stylesheets to hide elements such as text ads on a page as they load instead of blocking them, known as element hiding.[25]

Android

On rooted devices, the Android app blocks all web traffic including mobile networks. For non-rooted devices, ads are only blocked through a Wi-Fi connection and require the user to set up a manual proxy server.[26] Ads are only blocked on individual Wi-Fi connections and users must manually configure the proxy server for each individual network in order for the app to function. The app uses a local proxy server to intercept web traffic and remove ads before showing ad-free content to the user. Most of the content that users are trying to avoid is successfully blocked, though some content is missed and the app is not as reliable at blocking ads as the browser versions. The app can be configured to auto-start every time the device reboots, minimizing the action required by the user.

Filters

Basic filter rules can include wildcards represented by asterisks (*). Sites and objects can be whitelisted with filters that start with two at signs (@@). Regular expressions delimited by slashes (/) can be used. Adblock Plus also supports a more-sophisticated syntax that gives fine-grain control over filters.[27] An example of the sophisticated filtering would be wikipedia.org##div#centralNotice, which will hide the centralNotice element used by Wikipedia to display donation requests.

Filter subscriptions

Users can add external filtersets. Adblock Plus includes the ability to use one or more external filter subscriptions that are automatically updated. Filterset.G is incompatible with this system (and Adblock Plus specifically recommends against using Filterset.G for other reasons as well), but other filtersets can be added by typing their addresses. A list of known Adblock Plus subscriptions is maintained on the Adblock Plus official website.[28]

EasyList[29] was the most popular Adblock Plus filter list as of August 2011, with over 12 million subscribers.[30] Created by Rick Petnel,[31] it became officially recommended by the Adblock Plus program, and filter lists for other languages were built on top of it. Petnel died in 2009[32][33] following which Palant named a user going by the name "Ares2" as the new maintainer.[34] The filter lists EasyList and EasyPrivacy are both subscribed by default in uBlock but not in Adblock Plus itself.

In May 2013, the second most popular Adblock Plus filter list, Fanboy's List, was merged with EasyList.[35]

Controversy over ad filtering and ad whitelisting

Main article: Ad filtering

The owners of some websites which use third party hosted online advertising to fund the hosting of their websites have argued that the use of ad-blocking software such as Adblock Plus risks cutting off their revenue stream.[36][37] While some websites such as The New York Times and The Daily Telegraph have successfully implemented subscription and membership based paywall systems for revenue,[38] many websites today rely on third party hosted online advertising to function. In 2007, web developer Danny Carlton described the use of adblockers as tantamount to theft,[39] and called for other site owners to block the Firefox web browser from their websites to deter its use.[40]

On December 5, 2011, Wladimir Palant announced that certain "acceptable" ads would be whitelisted in upcoming builds of the Adblock Plus software, with the option to remove whitelisted ads via a custom setting in the software. According to Palant, only static advertisements with a maximum of one script will be permitted as "acceptable", with a preference towards text-only content. The announcement created some controversy both at Adblock Plus's website and at social media sites like Reddit.[41]

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.[42] In February 2013, an anonymous source accused Adblock Plus developer Wladimir Palant of offering to add his site's advertisements to the whitelist in return for one-third of the advertisement revenue.[43] 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".[44] He alleged that Adblock Plus whitelisted all ads coming from "friendly" sites and subsidiaries, and promoted their product using fake reviews and pornography.[45] Faida responded to Pallenberg's accusations, stating that "a large part of the information concerning the collaboration with our partners is correct," but that the company did not see these industry connections as a conflict of interest. He said that the company is convinced that the "acceptable ads" business model will be successful and says that the whitelisting criteria are "completely transparent".[44] He also stated that "We have an initiative called Acceptable Ads to support websites with unobtrusive ads. Every website can participate. The [Pallenberg] article on purpose just slanders our good name".[45]

In response to the "acceptable ads" whitelisting, forks of Adblock Plus were created such as Adblock Edge[46] and the now defunct Adblock Lite.[47]

In December 2014 it was reported that Zeit Online GmbH and Handelsblatt GmbH had brought suit against Eyeo GmbH in the Landgericht Hamburg.[48][49][50] In April 2015 the court rejected the suit.[51][52][53]

Detection

Some webmasters have used JavaScript to detect the effects of the popular Adblock Plus filters.[54][55] This is done by generating a honeypot-like URL, verifying its delivery, and DOM verification after the web page is rendered by the web browser, to ensure the expected advertising elements are present. Detection is simplified since the extension is not yet capable of replacing content; Loopback proxies provide this additional functionality.

These methods do not detect the presence of the Adblock Plus extension directly, only the effects of the filters. They are vulnerable to continued filter updates, and whitelist-filtering web scripts with extensions such as NoScript.

An attempt was made to detect the plug-in itself, but that detection method was rendered unusable by the 0.7.5.2 update of Adblock Plus.[56]

Google Chrome had a defect in Content Security Policy that allowed the detection of any installed extension, including Adblock Plus for Google Chrome.[57] The solution of this was possible only in Google Chrome 18, and requires each developer to make some changes in their extensions.[58] Adblock Plus for Google Chrome fixed this in version 1.3.[59]

See also

References

  1. ^ Palant, Wladimir. "Introducing Eyeo GmbH, the company behind Adblock Plus". Adblockplus.org.
  2. ^ Hern, Alex. "Adblock Plus: the tiny plugin threatening the internet's business model". Theguardian.com.
  3. ^ Sartoros, Alkimos; Dernbach, Christoph. "Adblock Plus: Erpresser-Vorwürfe gegen umstrittenen Werbeblocker (German)". Spiegel.de.
  4. ^ Thomas Greiner (November 9, 2023). "Adblock Plus 3.21 for Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Opera". Adblock Plus. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  5. ^ "Adblock Plus for Safari ABP on the Mac App Store". Retrieved March 3, 2023.
  6. ^ Oleksandr Paraska (January 3, 2017). "Adblock Plus 1.6 for IE released". Adblock Plus. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  7. ^ René Jeschke (March 3, 2015). "Adblock Plus 1.3 for Android released". Adblock Plus. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
  8. ^ Mario König (March 5, 2019). "Adblock Plus for Samsung Internet 1.2.0 released". Adblock Plus. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  9. ^ Adblock Plus. "Adblock Plus : About". Adblock Plus. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  10. ^ Adblock Plus. "Adblock Plus : Source Code". Adblock Plus. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  11. ^ Mozilla. "Adblock Plus :: Add-ons for Mozilla". Mozilla. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
  12. ^ "About Adblock Plus". Adblockplus.org. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  13. ^ "PC World - The 100 Best Products of 2007". PC World. Retrieved August 19, 2007.
  14. ^ adblockplus.org (October 27, 2011). "Adblock Plus for Google Chrome™ (Beta) - Chrome Web Store". Chrome.google.com. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  15. ^ "Statistics for Adblock Plus". Mozilla. January 17, 2006. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  16. ^ "Adblock Plus and (a little) more: Adblock Plus for Android removed from Google Play store". adblockplus.org. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  17. ^ "Install Adblock Plus for Android". adblockplus.org. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  18. ^ "Adblock Plus 1.0 for Internet Explorer released". Adblock Plus. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
  19. ^ "Adblock Plus for Safari Beta released". Retrieved January 21, 2014.
  20. ^ Williams, Ben. "Adblock Plus now available on Yandex Browser". Adblock Plus. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
  21. ^ Williams, Ben (May 20, 2015). "Adblock Browser is here". Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  22. ^ "Adblock Browser for Android". Google Play Store. September 7, 2015. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  23. ^ "Adblock Plus creators plan independent board to decide ad acceptability". Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  24. ^ "AdBlock Plus to introduce independent board to oversee Acceptable Ads program". BetaNews. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  25. ^ "FAQ - Adblock Plus internals". Adblockplus.org. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  26. ^ "About Adblock Plus for Android". adblockplus.org. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  27. ^ "Writing Adblock Plus filters". Adblockplus.org. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  28. ^ "Known Adblock Plus subscriptions". adblockplus.org.
  29. ^ EasyList
  30. ^ "EasyList Statistics: August 2011". EasyList. September 1, 2011. Retrieved September 2, 2011./
  31. ^ Whoriskey, Peter (June 25, 2008). "One Man, One Long List, No More Web Ads". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
  32. ^ "Richard J. Petnel Obituary: View Richard Petnel's Obituary by Albany Times Union". Legacy.com. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  33. ^ "Adblock Plus and (a little) more: Sad news". Adblockplus.org. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  34. ^ "Adblock Plus and (a little) more: What is going on with EasyList". Adblockplus.org. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  35. ^ "EasyList merges with Fanboy's List". EasyList. May 17, 2013. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  36. ^ "An Open Letter Regarding AdBlock and Revenue Loss". wordswithmeaning.org. April 19, 2012.
  37. ^ "Why Ad Blocking is devastating to the sites you love". Ars Technica. March 6, 2010.
  38. ^ "Two years in: Reflections on the New York Times paywall". journalism.co.uk. March 28, 2013.
  39. ^ McDougall, Paul (September 12, 2007). "Firefox Adblock Foe Calls For Mozilla Boycott". InformationWeek. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  40. ^ "Ad blocking is theft, so block Firefox instead (updated)". The Guardian. London. August 10, 2007.
  41. ^ Palant, Wladimir (December 5, 2011). "Allowing acceptable ads in Adblock Plus". Adblock Plus. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
  42. ^ "Mit aufdringlicher Werbung übertrieben" (in German). November 20, 2012.
  43. ^ "Media mafiosos: Is Adblock Plus shaking down websites for cash to let ads through?". Digital Trends. February 21, 2013.
  44. ^ a b "Serious accusations against Adblock Plus". The H. June 26, 2013.
  45. ^ a b "Adblock Plus denies ad fixing allegations". TechEye. June 27, 2013.
  46. ^ Adblock Edge at Mozilla Add-ons.
  47. ^ Adblock Lite at Mozilla Add-ons.
  48. ^ "Auch Zeit Online klagt gegen Adblock-Plus-Mutter Eyeo" (in German). horizont.net. December 17, 2014. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  49. ^ "Prozessauftakt in Köln - Adblock Plus: Axel Springer klagt gegen Eyeo" (in German). Internet World Business. March 11, 2015. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
  50. ^ "Auch Süddeutsche klagt gegen Adblock Plus" (in German). Internet World Business. March 13, 2015. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
  51. ^ Landsgericht Hamburg 16. Kammer für Handelssachen, Urteil vom 21.04.2015, 416 HKO 159/14 (Anonymized)
  52. ^ Ben Williams (April 21, 2015). "Restating the obvious: adblocking declared legal". Adblock Plus and (a little) more. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  53. ^ "Landgericht Hamburg: Adblock Plus darf weiter blocken" (in German). heise online. April 21, 2015. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  54. ^ "(v. 1.0) - A JavaScript way of doing ad block detection". Adblock Detector. Retrieved February 11, 2013.
  55. ^ "Content Filters and Proxy Detection". Retrieved February 11, 2013.
  56. ^ "Detailed changelog for Adblock Plus 0.7.5.2". Adblockplus.org. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  57. ^ "Intro to Chrome addons hacking: fingerprinting". Retrieved February 11, 2013.
  58. ^ "Google Chrome Extensions: Migrate to Manifest V2". Google. Retrieved February 11, 2013.
  59. ^ "Adblock Plus 1.3 for Google Chrome™ released". Adblockplus.org. Retrieved February 11, 2013.
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