Acceptable Ads

The leading standard for non-intrusive advertising, with integration across major ad blockers and a multi-stakeholder governance model that gives it broad industry credibility.

Acceptable Ads is an initiative and certification standard designed to bridge the gap between advertisers and ad-blocking users by defining criteria for non-intrusive advertising. Ads that meet the Acceptable Ads Standard — covering placement, size, distinction from content, and non-intrusiveness — are whitelisted and shown to users of participating ad blockers, giving publishers and advertisers a pathway to reach privacy-conscious audiences without compromising user experience. The program is governed by the Acceptable Ads Committee (AAC), an independent multi-stakeholder body that sets and enforces the criteria for what qualifies as an acceptable ad. The committee includes representatives from user advocacy groups, publishers, advertisers, and ad-blocking companies, ensuring that the standard reflects a broad range of interests rather than any single commercial agenda. This governance structure lends the standard credibility and independence in the market. Acceptable Ads occupies a unique position in the AdTech ecosystem as a compliance and certification layer between ad-blocking technology and digital advertising. It is integrated into major ad blockers, most notably Adblock Plus, giving it significant reach among the hundreds of millions of users who employ ad-blocking software globally. The standard provides a commercially viable model for publishers and advertisers to recover revenue lost to ad blocking, while offering users a less intrusive browsing experience.