Most of the internet is free because it runs on ads. But over the years, those ads have become harder to ignore. They fill up more of our screens, interrupt our videos, and slow down pages.
Ad blockers make that experience more tolerable. And even then, ad blockers cannot really block all ads. Ads on streaming platforms are difficult to block, YouTube keeps taking countermeasures against ad blockers, and even Google is trying its best to nerf ad blockers on Chrome.
Every blocked ad cuts into the money advertisers and publishers rely on. That tension has already landed in courtrooms around the world. So it’s only natural to wonder if blocking ads is actually legal, or is it more like… piracy? That’s what we’re here to find out.
Is Ad Blocking Legal?
Yes. In most countries, ad blocking is legal.
Courts have generally treated it as a matter of user choice. Since you’re filtering content on your own device rather than tampering with a website’s servers, you are not breaking any laws.
In Germany, for example, the Supreme Court ruled that Adblock Plus was not violating competition law by letting users block ads. The same is true in the US, UK, Canada, and many other countries.
That doesn’t mean it’s without friction. Publishers argue that ad blockers deprive them of revenue and have taken companies like Eyeo to court several times. Websites can also enforce their own rules. Some detect ad blockers and lock you out until you disable them. In the US, according to DMCA, while running an ad blocker is fine, using tools to bypass anti-ad-blocker systems may be considered circumvention under Section 1201.
China is one of the few places where ad blockers are banned, with restrictions tied to the country’s control over internet platforms. In most other places, the debate continues. But as of 2025, blocking ads is legal in most parts of the world.
Is Ad Blocking the Same as Piracy?
No. Ad blocking is not piracy.
Piracy means copying or distributing content without permission. Ad blocking doesn’t copy anything. It just prevents certain elements, such as ads or trackers, from loading on your device. Legally, you’re still accessing the same website or video, just without some of the extras that fund it.
That said, many publishers argue that ad blocking feels like piracy because it undermines the ad-supported model that keeps content free (or cheap). If everyone blocks ads, the money that pays for writers, servers, and production dries up. That’s why you’ll see guilt-trip banners or paywalls when ad blockers are detected.
The ethical debate is more complicated than the legal one. Users see it as protecting their privacy and sanity from intrusive tracking, autoplay videos, and malware-laden banners. Publishers see it as taking the content without paying the “price” of ads. But from a legal standpoint, ad blocking and piracy are very different things.
How Do Ad Blockers Work?
At its core, ad blockers work by hiding what you don’t want to see. Most browser-based ad blockers use filter lists, community-made rules that tell the extension which elements on a page look like ads. When the page loads, the ad blocker either hides those elements (like banners or sidebars) or stops them from loading altogether.
Some tools go deeper. System-level ad blockers don’t only work inside your browser; they intercept network traffic on your device and block requests to known advertising or tracking domains. This often involves HTTPS filtering, where the tool inspects encrypted web traffic and strips out ad requests before they reach you.
At the broadest scale, you have network-level blockers. These sit on your router, VPN, or DNS service. DNS-based blocking, often called DNS sinkholing, works by hijacking ad-related domain requests. When your device tries to reach an ad server, the DNS sends it to a “black hole” (an address that goes nowhere) instead of the real server. As a result, the ad never loads on your devices.
Will Ad Blocking Become Illegal in the US?
Nope. In the US, using an ad blocker is legal. Courts haven’t considered it piracy or theft since you’re just controlling what loads on your own device. There’s no law on the books that criminalizes ad blocking, and Congress hasn’t shown any interest in passing one.
Where things get a bit hairy is with the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). Section 1201 prohibits bypassing “technological protection measures.” Suppose a website builds an anti-ad-blocking system. In that case, code that detects and prevents ad blockers, then creating or distributing tools to get around that, could, in theory, be challenged as circumvention. That’s a very different question from just running an ad blocker, though, and it hasn’t been tested directly in court yet.
So while publishers will keep fighting ad blocking in courtrooms and through technical countermeasures, it’s unlikely the US government will ban ad blockers outright. At most, the battle is around how far blockers can go when they interfere with anti-blocking systems.
Is Ad Blocking Illegal in Germany?
Nom ad blocking is legal in Germany. In fact, Germany has seen some of the biggest legal battles over it.
Publishers sued Eyeo GmbH, the company behind AdBlock and Adblock Plus, multiple times, arguing that blocking ads was unfair competition. The cases went all the way to the Bundesgerichtshof (German Federal Supreme Court), and in 2018, they ruled that users have the right to block ads and that ad-blocking software itself doesn’t break competition law.
What German courts did object to was Eyeo’s “Acceptable Ads” program, where advertisers could pay to have certain non-intrusive ads whitelisted. Some publishers argued this created a monopolistic situation. But even then, the courts ruled that users have the final say whether ads are shown or not.
So in Germany, you can use ad blockers without worrying about legal consequences. The disputes were between publishers and ad-blocking companies, not individual users.
Is Ad Blocking Illegal in China?
Yes, in China, ad blocking is banned. Unlike the US or Europe, where it’s a user choice, in China, it’s strictly prohibited. The government controls online platforms and advertising, and blocking ads is seen as disrupting that ecosystem.
Most major Chinese browsers like UC Browser, QQ Browser, and Baidu Browser have removed or restricted ad blocking after regulatory pressure. App stores also block third-party ad blockers. For users, that means while you might find unofficial or modified apps, using them is both risky and illegal.
China is one of the few countries where ad blocking is flat-out banned by law and policy.
Which Countries Have Banned Ad Blocking?
Only a few countries have outright banned ad blocking. China is the clearest example where regulators have forced browsers and app stores to remove ad-blocking tools. In practice, this means you won’t find mainstream ad blockers on Chinese app stores, and even browsers that once had built-in blockers have removed them under government pressure.
Other regions don’t ban but restrict. For example, in Russia, specific laws around copyright and website interference have made some ad-blocking features harder to distribute, but users still install them. In Turkey, regulators have targeted VPNs and DNS-based blocking services that block ads, but not ad blockers themselves.
In contrast, in places like the US, UK, and Europe, ad blockers are legal even after lawsuits and industry pressure. Most of the world still treats ad blocking as a user choice.
Is It Unethical to Block Ads?
That depends on who you ask.
From a user’s point of view, blocking ads can feel like self-defence. Ads can be intrusive, slow down your browsing, track you across the internet, and sometimes even carry malware. If you see it as protecting your privacy and sanity, then using an ad blocker doesn’t feel so bad at all.
From a publisher or creator’s point of view, ads are the lifeline. Every blocked ad is lost revenue that could have paid writers, servers, or production costs. Some argue it’s like walking into a cinema without buying a ticket. You’re consuming the content without paying the “price of admission,” which in this case is watching ads.
The ethical debate sits in the middle. Some users compromise by whitelisting sites they want to support or paying for ad-free subscriptions like YouTube Premium. Some ad blockers even come with an “acceptable ads” program that allows non-intrusive ads. Others reject that framing entirely, arguing that if the ad industry relied less on surveillance and aggressive formats, people wouldn’t block ads in the first place.
It is an ongoing debate and basically boils down to what you’re comfortable with.
Wrapping Up
Ad blocking isn’t going anywhere. Some see it as a fundamental right to control what loads on their screen, while publishers see it as a threat to their business model. The legality is mostly settled in favour of users, but the ethical debate is still wide open. Whether you choose to block ads or not often comes down to your balance between convenience, privacy, and supporting the sites and creators you value.
If you’re looking for an ad blocker, have a look at our list for the best ad blockers of 2025.