The Ethicality of Ad Blocking
For the last five years of my life, I have always had an ad blocker extension installed on my Google Chrome browser. When I see my peers dutifully waiting for their ad to finish playing so they can watch a Youtube video or an episode of the Bachelorette, I often ask why they don’t have an ad blocker installed. In previous courses, we have discussed the ethics of using ad blockers, which the attached Fortune article does as well. We know from class that there is a giant market for ads on the internet. Advertisers have many websites they could advertise on, as well as many different forms of advertisement to choose from. Apple has integrated ad-blocking software into its past iOS releases, which has spurred on discussion of the economics and ethics of digital media, the majority of which is supported by advertising. Ad blockers “benefit a ton of people in major ways, but they also hurt some, including many who don’t deserve the hit.” This is because most ad blockers treat all ads the same; they block all ads indiscriminately.
Supporting ad blockers could mean the death of independent media outlets who cannot afford other forms of advertising. Some have argued that using ad blockers to view content is comparable to music or software piracy. Because publishers make profit through advertising, blocking digital ads is unethical as it “robs” the site of advertising profits. However, it can be argued that any money that goes missing through such behavior is only theoretical revenue, as the alternative is to not visit the site at all, also resulting in no revenue. I would agree with the critics who argue that the bigger problem is the advertising model that media outlets are based on. The model requires relying on invasive tracking software, annoying popups, and other low-quality advertising. By using ad blockers, consumers of digital media are sending a message to publications and telling them to come up with a better user experience, in terms of advertisements. Some ethicists say that ad blockers are not unethical, but rather a “rational response to the unethical behavior of some advertisers and publishers”, which I would agree with.
Over all, ad blockers are a digital lifesaver. They prevent the annoying clutter and pop-ups of ads. There is still great potential for non-invasive ad revenue, which websites like Google, Facebook, and Instagram have incorporated into their user interfaces. They format some advertisements by having them appear as regular search queries or posts. Non-invasive advertising is the direction that digital media should move toward.
http://fortune.com/2015/09/18/ad-block-ethics/