Google removes two Chrome extensions for forcing ads on users

Google has started taking action to remove Chrome extensions that violate the company’s terms of service, in particular serving users unwanted ads. The Wall Street Journal reports that Google has removed two Chrome extensions from its Web store, ‘Add to Feedly’ and ‘Tweet this Page’, after they were updated to include code that caused the unwanted appearance of ads.

Google removed two Chrome browser extensions from its web store after it was discovered the software included code that served people ads in a way that violated the company’s terms of service. Internet message boards were abuzz this weekend over the two extensions — “Add to Feedly” and “Tweet This Page” — each of which had fewer than 100,000 users. In both cases, people described how the extensions were silently updated to include code that served undesirable ads. One user review for “Add to Feedly” called the extension “spam” that caused ads to suddenly pop up on any website visited.