Ginny Marvin says, “Adblock Plus’s parent company, eyeo, is transitioning the Acceptable Ads program to an independent group. The Acceptable Ads Committee (AAC) will oversee the whitelisting program that enables ads to pass through some of the most popular ad blockers: Adblock Plus, AdBlock, Adblock Browser and Crystal.

Eyeo launched the controversial Acceptable Ads program in 2011 in which large companies like Google, AOL, Yaoo and Criteo pay to have their ads whitelisted. Smaller firms are not charged for whitelisting privileges. Many in the industry have equated this model to a type of extortion. Last year the IAB revoked Adblock Plus’s invitation to the IAB Leaership Summit. The formation of an independent committee is a step toward addressing criticism.

“The AAC will take full authority over these [acceptability] criteria and the compromise between users who want to block intrusive ads and publishers who rely on advertising revenues,” Ben Williams, AdBlock Plus operations and marketing manager, wrote in the announcement.

Eight members have been named to the 11 available committee seats, including representatives from Rocket Fuel (in the ad tech seat), Dell (advertiser seat), M&C Saatchi Mobile (agency seat) and Conde Nast (publisher seat)”.

Adblock Plus names independent Acceptable Ads Committee

Marketing Land

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