Confidential

Ad Blocking Policy

Last Updated: January 2020

1.Ad Blocking Requirements

Ad blocking refers to the practice of preventing ads from rendering or serving to the user.

Requirements for ad blocking features in all territories except India:

Ad blockers must not block ads that are compliant with the Coalition for Better Ads’ Better Ads Standards (CBA). Partners must not block CBA-compliant ads served by and through Search Provider’s offering or Verizon Media’s Native advertising offering.

 

Ad blockers that comply with the CBA principles are permitted if the following requirements are met:

  • For ad blocking features that are part of a browser, application, or extension:

a. The ad blocker must be disabled by default, or

b. Provide users with clear, transparent notice and informed consent of its functionality in order to be enabled by default.

 

Ad blockers that do not comply with CBA principles are permitted if the following requirements are met:

  • For ad blocking features that are part of a browser:

c. The default setting for the ad blocking feature must be set to “off.”

d. The user must actively enable the ad blocking feature.

e. Partners may not incent or mislead users into enabling the ad blocking feature.

  • For ad blocking features that are part of an application, extension, or other program:

a. The application, extension, and other programs must (1) be owned and operated by an industry-leading provider of anti-virus, security, and privacy-focused offerings in at least two of the following countries: the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Canada (e.g., Mozilla, McAfee, Symantec, DuckDuckGo), and (2) allow ads on domains owned-and-operated by Search Provider or Verizon Media.

b. The default setting for ad blocking feature must be set to “off.”

c. The user must actively enable the ad blocking feature.

 

The CBA principles can be found at the following URL: https://www.betterads.org/standards/

Requirements for ad blocking features in India:

  • Browsers, applications, and extensions are allowed to have ad blocking features enabled by default and are not required to be compliant with CBA principles.
  • If the ad blocking feature is off by default, Partners may not incent or mislead users into enabling the ad blocking feature.
  • The ad blocker must not block CBA-compliant ads served by and through Search Provider’s offering or Verizon Media’s Native advertising offering.