Yahoo locks ad-blocking users out of emails

Ad blockers are increasingly being used by people to get away from online advertisements that they view as annoying and invasive

Yahoo has admitted it is preventing some of its Yahoo Mail users from seeing their emails until they turn off their ad-blocking software.

Users started complaining on social media and ad-blocking forums late last week that a message prompting them to disable ad-blocking software appeared when they tried to view their email.

The company claimed the notices were a limited experiment. “We are continually developing and testing new product experiences,” a spokeswoman said. “This is a test we’re running for a small number of Yahoo Mail users.”

Ad blockers are increasingly being used by people to get away from online advertisements that they view as annoying and invasive. That has been potentially damaging for internet companies such as Yahoo and Google, as well as media groups, all of which depend on advertising revenue to fund their businesses.

The debate on ad blocking has intensified in recent months, particularly after Apple started offering support for ad blocking in its browser for the iPhone . Yet while some companies have put up messages asking users to turn off ad-blocking software in return for access to content, Yahoo may stand alone in actively blocking users from reaching their own correspondence.

© Washington Post