Vivaldi: ad blocking should be user selectable

Block ads or not?
Your choice matters!

Refusing to support the webRequest API, which underlies almost all existing ad blockers and hidden trackers, will break the work of many popular extensions (such as AdBlock Plus , uBlock Origin and Ghostery ). The alternative API is already under development and testing, but so far it is not able to completely replace the webRequest API.

In addition, the changes proposed by Google will affect not only ad blockers, but also defensive extensions, antivirus programs and parental control applications.

The reaction of users was quite clear and understandable: we do not want to lose the usual tools, and the developers want to keep the functionality of their extensions to the maximum. It seems that not many people liked Google's solution ... Who would have thought ?!
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The dissatisfaction was so serious that at some point Google had to back down and partially abandon its plans, but only for corporate customers: representatives of Google said last week that the old API would still be available, but only for users of the special version browser for business.

Ad blocking is everyone’s choice.

Google's decision is dictated primarily by the conditions of the modern online advertising market. On the one hand, there is Google, an advertising-making company. She needs to know who you are and what you are interested in in order to select the most relevant offers for you (this is their business model). On the other hand, users who do not like constant surveillance and annoying ads (and they can be understood).

Ad blocking is a rather complicated question. The Internet, in the form to which we have all become accustomed for a long time, largely exists only through advertising. Thanks to advertising many sites you can use for free. Remove advertising from the Internet - and many free services simply shut down. It is for this reason that in our browser there is still no built-in ad blocker.

However, we would like you to have a choice. If you do not want to see annoying ads, you can install a specialized extension. Yes, we do not have our own ad blocker, but we are happy to “delegate” these functions to third-party developers.

What's next?

Vivaldi is based on Chromium, and how we respond to changes in the existing API depends primarily on how Google implements the promised restrictions. Chromium is updated every six weeks, and during this period a new code must be integrated into Vivaldi.

So far, all changes are only hypothetical, and there are many possible scenarios. It’s too early to talk about anything concrete. In theory, we could restore the deleted API on our own (to be honest, we already had to do these things). If the API is completely removed, and no alternative solutions are offered, we could create our own gallery for selected extensions.

Google has not yet made the final decision, so we still have time and room for maneuver. Most likely, the situation will soon change. In addition, we cannot exclude the most favorable scenario for all of us: what if the new API ultimately still manages to repeat the functionality of the webRequest API?

And in the end, everything is not so scary: whatever restrictions Google put on Chromium, in the end, we can still remove them. Whatever happens, we will always strive to ensure that our users have a choice.

Petter Nielsen,
Vivaldi Software

Translation: Alex Semnov-Sherin