French sites fighting ad blocking with user blocking

French media is bringing the fight to ad blocking software. According to a report by The Guardian, a number of French digital media outlets have blocked access to its content to users who run an ad blocking software or browser extension.

The sites, some of which are major media publications, are part of a trade association representing online businesses.

They’re saying that by using ad blocking software, users are depriving the companies of valuable revenue sources, killing the business.

“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,” The Guardian cites a message from Jerome Fenoglio, the editor-in-chief of French daily Le Monde, to users running adblocker software.

Le Monde was joined by sports daily L’Equipe and Le Parisien, as well as Deezer, a France-based music streaming service.

Even though Le Monde does allow the visitors through, after communicating this message to them, others require users to disable the software.

Ad blocking is a huge, and quite a debatable trend. On one hand, users are enjoying the possibility of an interruption-free online experience, while on the other hand, advertising is what makes a lot of online content free.

Yahoo also recently announced it won’t allow access to its email service to anyone using an ad blocker. On the other hand, whistleblower Edward Snowden once said that ‘it’s your duty’ to use an ad blocking software.