Mobile carriers in Europe are holding Google’s ads for ransom

If you want to do some damage to Google, just hit the company where it really hurts: advertising. That’s exactly what some mobile network operators in Europe are doing. Tired of not being able to profit from the data that they act as middle-men for, the operators have threatened to block Google’s ads if the company doesn’t pay them ransom money. 

Mobile network operators don’t seem to like the role that they’ve grown into – that of simply pushing data back and forth, while other companies bring in huge profits by using the networks that carry their data. For carriers – which invest huge sums in expanding their mobile network infrastructure – it’s a very undesirable state of affairs, and it seems they’re not prepared to let it stand any longer. According to The Financial Times, several carriers are planning to block ads across the web on their mobile networks. An unnamed executive at one European operator said that numerous carriers intended to begin blocking ads later this year, initially offering an opt-in ad-free service to customers. But a more extreme option is also under consideration, referred to as ‘the bomb’, which would kill all advertising at a network level for all customers at the same time. Under either option, only ads in web pages and apps would be affected, but not ads embedded in feeds, like those used by Facebook and Twitter.