Google Chrome is going to block websites that abuse notifications

While browsing the web, more than annoying ads can interfere. Users of Google Chrome can often see notifications about access to certain permissions and sending notifications when visiting sites. Many scammers use this option. In the new version of the browser, the search giant has solved this problem.

In the 84th build of Chrome, developers implemented protection against intrusive, unwanted, and misleading site notifications. For example, sometimes sites require permission to send notifications so that the user can access the content. Sometimes attackers even fake notifications by redirecting users to other sites. In addition, with the help of such messages, scammers try to steal personal data.

Google Chrome is going to block websites that abuse notifications

Now Chrome will automatically block all unwanted notifications. In the desktop version of the browser, the user only sees the corresponding icon in the search bar, and on mobile devices – a small message at the bottom of the screen will appear. If you wish, you can still give the site permission to send notifications.

The new function works both in the desktop and in the mobile version of the browser.

It is worth to mention that recently, Google tries to make ads more acceptable (since Google earns money from ads). Currently, the Chrome browser already includes an ad blocker that blocks ads on websites that do not meet the standards of the “Better Ads Standards”. With this feature, Chrome now only displays ads that have acceptable format according to this standard. And now, the firm wanted to go further, by tackling heavy advertisements, which use too many resources, and which are likely to slow navigation.

Google announces the start of an experience that will allow Chrome to stop displaying these heavy advertisements. “We have recently discovered that a fraction of a percent of ads consume a disproportionate share of device resources, such as battery and network data, without the user knowing about it. These ads (such as those that mine cryptocurrency, are poorly programmed, or are unoptimized for network usage) can drain battery life, saturate already strained networks, and cost money” explains Marshall Vale, Chrome product manager.

An ad will be penalized by Chrome if it uses more than 4 MB of data. Or if it uses the processor for 15 seconds over an interval of 30 seconds. Or if it uses the processor for 60 seconds in total. According to Google, ads that exceed these established thresholds represent only 0.3% of online ads. They are responsible for 27% of network data usage by ads, and 28% of processor usage.