Making the internet a better place for everyone
eyeo features a host of products associated with Adblock Plus, all of which are geared toward giving users more control and more information about their online experience. The company would like to develop other products which adhere to the principles upon which Wladimir and Till founded the company: making the Internet a better place through content choice, user control, privacy and security. eyeo has offices in Cologne and Berlin, and currently employs 106 people.
What happened back in 2006?
In January 2006 Wladimir Palant wrote Adblock Plus. Less than a year later Adblock Plus was the most downloaded Firefox add-on, a position it has retained ever since. In addition to Firefox, the extension is available for Chrome, Internet Explorer, Maxthon, Opera, Safari and Yandex.Browser.
How everything fell in place
Meanwhile, Till Faida was studying international business and management in the Netherlands and Sweden. Intrigued by what Wladimir was doing with Adblock Plus, Till decided to make it the subject of his thesis. Wladimir and Till met one another through Tim Schumacher, founder of Sedo GmbH and an investor who had taken an interest in developing Adblock Plus with Wladimir. Eventually, with Tim on as an investor and adviser, Wladimir and Till decided to start eyeo GmbH to be the business side of Adblock Plus.
What is the process for being whitelisted?
To be whitelisted, a website or advertiser must apply. At that point we collaborate with them to bring their ads in line with the criteria of our Acceptable Ads initiative. After that, we send the proposed ads to our 27,000-plus community for 7 – 10 days for an open discussion. If members of the community raise legitimate objections about proposed ads, we go back to the drawing board with the website or advertiser. If nothing comes up we whitelist the ads after the time period discussed above. All whitelisted sites are available here.
Why do some companies pay to be whitelisted and others do not?
Whitelisting is free for all small websites and blogs. However, managing this list requires significant effort on our side and this task cannot be completely taken over by volunteers as it happens with common filter lists. That’s why we are being paid by some larger properties that serve nonintrusive advertisements that want to participate in the Acceptable Ads initiative.
Can companies pay to be on the whitelist?
Absolutely not. Anyone and everyone can apply to be whitelisted. Whether they are or not depends solely on the content of their advertisements, i.e., whether they conform to our unambiguous Acceptable Ads criteria. However, after approval, some larger properties that serve nonintrusive advertisements pay.
