Google releases Chrome extension to see where ads are coming from

Google has released a Chrome extension that allows users to see where an ad comes from, why a particular ad appears and which ‘entities’ are present on an internet page.

The extension scans internet pages for advertisements and retrieves information about them. Ads Transparency Spotlight is in the Chrome Web Store and can see ads on all internet pages, not just Google’s. The extension uses the Ad Disclosure API, which sends information about why a particular ad is on a page.

With the extension, Google wants to provide more insight into why certain ads appear on internet pages, the company said. Currently, the extension doesn’t have any ways to control ads, but they will likely come, Google claims. In the long run, people want to gain more confidence in online advertisements. The company also does this by removing ads that ask a lot of the CPU and the connection.