Three ( 3 ) to block ads on network level in all of Europe

The ad-blocking war continues as Three / 3 has partnered with Shine Technologies, a firm that helps wireless carriers & fixed-line operators protect their consumers from AdTech abuse. Three will roll out the blocking service first in Italy and the UK, then continue in Austria, Denmark, Ireland and Sweden at a later stage.

Three explains that "network-based ad-blocking is a more powerful and effective solution for customers than application-based technologies as it reaches a broader ranges of mobile advertising" They are also passionate about their three principal goals for ad blocking:

That customers should not pay data charges to receive ads. These should be costs borne by the advertiser;

That customers’ privacy and security must be fully protected. Some advertisers use mobile ads to extract and exploit data about customers without their knowledge or consent;

That customers should be entitled to receive advertising that is relevant and interesting to them, and not to have their data experience in mobile degraded by excessive, intrusive, unwanted or irrelevant ads.

Tom Malleschitz, the chief marketing officer at Three UK has stated that "Irrelevant and excessive mobile ads annoy customers and affect their overall network experience."

"We don’t believe customers should have to pay for data usage driven by mobile ads. The industry has to work together to give customers mobile ads they want and benefit from. These goals will give customers choice and significantly improve their ad experience."

Publications whose content is consumed via Three smartphones or tablets on the three network will thus have their ads stripped out, leaving the publication with traffic but no ads that pay for that traffic.
Shine describes their service as "punching back", and note that "Whether sincere or crocodile tears, the fact is that ad tech brought about its own inevitable demise by coming to depend on dirty revenue generated through intrusive practices that abuse consumers and defraud advertising businesses." We agree whole heartily and have stated so many times over the years here that digital advertising is a scam. Like we've said so many times, including to Marketing Insights; “The way ad networks are today are basically indistinguishable from malware. There’s a lot of third-party calls going on between the publication that you’re reading and the [tracker] on the publication"

The ad blocking wars are here to stay.