Maker AdBlock sells its software to an anonymous party

The popular ad blocking software AdBlock has been sold by its creator. However, it is not known who bought the service, because the buyer chose to remain anonymous. As part of the change of ownership, ‘acceptable’ ads will be shown by default.

That AdBlock was sold to an unnamed buyer was mentioned in a pop-up that has appeared on many users of the popular ad blocker. The primary purpose of the popup was to announce that AdBlock is joining the Acceptable Ads program; that program should ensure that only ads that are ‘not annoying’ are shown. However, it was also reported that AdBlock has a new owner who has chosen to enable Acceptable Ads by default. No further information was given about the transaction.

Acceptable Ads is a program created by Adblock Plus, which, despite its name, has no direct affiliation with AdBlock. Adblock Plus developer Eyeo announced earlier this week that there will be an external committee that will keep track of which ads are and are not acceptable. It’s possible that this convinced the new AdBlock owner to get involved; In this way, Eyeo has no say in what is and is not acceptable.

Due to the ownership change, Acceptable Ads in AdBlock are turned on by default and are therefore shown in the browser. However, it is possible to disable the display of these advertisements in the settings. It is likely that AdBlock gets paid to allow certain ads to pass.

AdBlock is one of the most popular ad blockers available for browsers. It is reported that about 40 million people use the service. It is not known what the new owner paid for it, but an AdBlock spokesperson told The Next Web that founder Michael Gundlach will no longer be part of the company.