Google announced today plans to enable its new anti-notification spam system in Chrome over the summer, with the release of Chrome 84, on July 12, 2020.
Known internally as the “quieter notification permission UI,” this Chrome component works by blocking sites from showing notification requests, which are hidden under an icon in the Chrome URL bar (on desktop) or under a toolbar (on mobile).
Image: Google
Google first announced the “quieter notification permission UI” in January, and shipped it in February, in Chrome 80, in a limited, user opt-in fashion.
But in a blog post today, Google said the new UI and its ability to detect spammy notification popups has been improved and will roll out enabled by default for all users in July, with the release of Chrome 84.
According to Google, Chrome will start blocking and hiding all notifications popups that are “designed to mislead, trick, or force users into allowing notifications.”
This includes:
- Notification requests that force users to allow notifications in order to gain access to the site’s content
- Notification requests that are preceded by misleading pre-prompts
- Notifications popups that resemble chat messages, warnings or system dialogues
- Sites that once they received approval to show browser notifications, they use the notifications to steal personal information or trick users into sharing personal information
- Sites that once they received approval to show browser notifications, they use the notifications to promote, host, or link to malware or unwanted software.
Search Console integration
Google says that all sites that are caught using one of these techniques, or others, will have their ability to prompt users blocked in Chrome, going forward.
Sites that use the Notifications API the right way will be allowed to show notifications, as long as they don’t pester users or engage in any shady practices.
Site owners that have registered their domain with Google’s Search Console can check if their site will be blocked starting July via the Search Console dashboard, in the new Abusive Notifications Report section.
Sites that have had their ability to show notifications in Chrome can also use this dashboard to see what they did wrong and file an appeal once they corrected the issue.
