Google is now technically the Alphabet, which is the holding company that manages diverse business from smart phones to autonomous cars. Google has many irons in the fire. However, its main source of revenue is digital advertising which enables it to dabble elsewhere. Of its total revenue of $ 111 billion, digital advertising accounts 86 percent.

In February, 2018, Google decides to switch on a code on its web browser Chrome to block certain online advertisements. Online advertising becomes intrusive and there are third party ad blockers installed by around 27 percent US internet users. Web publishers may not like this, but annoying ads must be blocked. What is annoying is defined by Coalition for Better Ads, a group of advertisers and technology firms, of which Google is a member. Ad blocking makes the web safer and more enjoyable. However, if we curtail the ads, the web itself suffers — fewer websites.

Websites and block writers compete with each other. Sites try to detect the blockers and force users to disable them. Ad blockers try to dodge the detectors. Some sites use the computing power to mine the cyber currency. Google’s move is to protect online advertising from itself. It wants minimum standards to be complied with both by the advertisers and the sites. But its power to decide what is permissible and acceptable makes Google even more powerful.