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Opera brings built-in ad-blocking tools to mobile and desktop browsers

Opera users will now be able to opt out of seeing ads as they browse the Internet, from within the software's native settings menu.

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Katie Collins Senior European Correspondent
Katie a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET's European correspondent, covering tech policy and Big Tech in the EU and UK. Unofficially, she serves as CNET's Taylor Swift correspondent. You can also find her writing about tech for good, ethics and human rights, the climate crisis, robots, travel and digital culture. She was once described a "living synth" by London's Evening Standard for having a microchip injected into her hand.
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Katie Collins
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Opera says one of the main benefits of blocking ads is increased browsing speeds.

 Opera

Opera is introducing built-in ad-blocking tools to its desktop and mobile browsers, the company announced Wednesday.

Announced for developers back in March, ad blocking will now be available to all users of Opera browsers, which serves as an alternative to Google's Chrome, Apple's Safari and Microsoft's Edge.

Increasingly browser builders are moving towards making it easier for their users to enjoy ad-free Internet use, but the activity remains controversial. Blocking ads speeds up the loading of Web pages, but ads also support free online services, from Facebook to Google Search.

Ad blocking won't be turned on by default -- users will have to turn it on in their settings or preferences menu. The benefit of using a native ad blocker rather than downloading a third-party tool is that it makes browsing faster and reduces memory consumption, according to Opera.