The war against ad blocking softwares continue to proliferate. The latest to join the foray is Yahoo Mail. The popular email platform has reportedly blocked United States-based users of the popular ad blocking software AdBlock Plus.
According to CIO, users who are using ad blocking software, such as AdBlock Plus, while accessing Yahoo Mail will be restricted to access its features. Users will be treated to a warning message that reads, "Uh oh... We are unable to display Yahoo Mail. Please disable Ad Blocker to continue using Yahoo Mail."
Despite Yahoo Mail's effort to ban the use of ad blocking softwares, members of one ad-blocking forum claim that they were able to circumvent the restriction and were able to access Yahoo Mail features while employing ad blocking softwares at the same time.
Following the recent issue with Yahoo Mail's restriction on ad blockers, the debate about whether or not these kinds of software are legal was once again in the spotlight.
For a free email service like Yahoo Mail, the advertising revenue is one of the many and probably major outlets for them to make money. According to BBC, Yahoo claims that it is on the process of testing a "new product experience" aimed for users in the U.S.
Ad blocking softwares are very controversial and tech companies have responded to them in various ways.
Apple released an update for its iOS platform in September that enables users to install ad blocking apps. However, the Cupertino-based company did not remove its own ads which in turn raised more questions about its advertisement policies.
On the other hand, Google introduced a new paid subscription plan for its popular video platform YouTube. Users who do not want to be annoyed by ads can instead pay a monthly subscription fee to remove it.