Google is reportedly working on an ad blocker.
Sources tell the Wall Street Journal the company is working on a feature for its Chrome browser on desktop and mobile that would either filter certain types of ads, or filter ads entirely from sites that run what it sees as “bad ads.”
Filtering would be based on standards created by an organization called the Coalition for Better Ads, which happens to count Google and Facebook as members. Update: Members such as Google and Facebook fund the coalition, according to a coalition representative.
Based on that criteria, Google’s ad blocker would filter out pop-ups and auto-playing features.
Blocking ads, then, would seem counterintuitive for Google. But it’s worth asking if this feature would even be an ad blocker, at least in the sense that most people think of ad blockers. (Note that Chrome has long had a built-in pop-up blocker and warns users of sites that may contain malware.)
Depending on how it played out, Google’s version could still work similarly to what consumers are already downloading. The Journal reported that the feature could block all ads on any sites that contain offending ads.
Or it could just be something users download that kind of sounds like an ad blocker, so then they don’t download a real ad blocker.
Google declined to state whether it was working on the tool described by the Journal.
“We’ve been working closely with the Coalition for Better Ads and industry trades to explore a multitude of ways Google and other members of the Coalition could support the Better Ads Standards,” a spokesperson said.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.