Google has removed two extensions from its Chrome browser store after discovering that the software contained code that served ads to users, which violates the company's data protection laws.
Over the weekend, the message boards were flooded with two extensions, “Add to Feedly” and “Tweet This Page,” each of which had fewer than 100,000 users. In both cases, users reported that the extensions were updated without notice to include code that distributed unwanted ads. In one user’s comment, “Add to Feedly” was referred to as “spam” that suddenly displayed ads on any website they visited.
Extensions are small pieces of code that modify a browser by adding new features or removing others. AdBlock, for example, is a popular extension that automatically blocks ads on web pages. Google updated its policies in December to prevent developers from using extensions to insert ads on more than one page.
