Adblocker users are being either asked or forced to uninstall the software before being able to read news content on some of the biggest French media websites, which argue they are being deprived of vital revenue by the use of such software, reports The Guardian.
The initiative, organised by a trade association representing online businesses, aimed to reverse the growing popularity of software that blocks advertisements that many internet users find annoying, but which provide critical revenue to media websites.
“For our 400 journalists to provide you each day with high-quality, reliable and varied news each day ... we must be able to rely on advertising revenue,” read a message from Jérôme Fenogli, the editor-in-chief of French daily Le Monde, to users running adblocker software.
While Le Monde then let users continue on to its website, others such as those of sports daily L'Équipe and Le Parisien require users to disable their adblockers.