Samsung has become the latest player to allow ad blocking by default, pre-installing the filtering software on its latest Android phones.
The software will come pre-installed on the updated Samsung web browser, and has begun rolling out for Android Lollipop or higher users.
A content blocker named Adblock Fast (see animation below) is already available for Samsung’s Internet Web browser.
The plugin, which boasts more than 200,000 users, is also available on iOS, Chrome, and Opera Web browsers.
Blockers on Samsung phones will have to be added in the same way and will not come as standard.
The move mirrors an update by Apple in September that allowed ad-blockers to be installed as extensions for the Safari browser.
Ad-blockers work by removing scripts in web page code that would otherwise pull content from ad networks’ servers.
In November, 18% of British adults online were using some form of ad-blocker, up 3% from June, according to a report from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB).
