Yahoo won’t let users with ad blockers access their email

Then ad blockers came along, and everyone started downloading them to keep their Web browsing ad-free.

If you’re using an ad blocker, you might have a few trouble accessing Yahoo Mail, Digiday reports. The message, shown above, is asking the user to disable the program so it can finally proceed with displaying the user’s email.

Users posting on AdBlock Plus’ forums say they are being denied access to Yahoo Mail on both Chrome and Firefox browsers. Andrei Herasimchuk, a former Yahoo designer who now works at Twitter, also claims to be blocked from his inbox. We’ve reached out to the company for clarification.

As Engadget points out, the URL users are directed to when they’re denied access tells its own story: “reason=ADBLK_TRAP”.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is coming under increasing pressure to turn the company around in the face of declining revenue, so it’s unsurprising the firm is looking to stamp out ways for users of free services to undermine the core source of cash.

By June 2015, there were an estimated 198 million active ad-blocking users around the world.

Commenting on the issue, Yahoo has recently stated that the blocking issue was just a test in an effort to develop “new product experiences”, therefore, only a few could experience being locked out of their mail. While these companies do need to pay their bills, aggressive blocking the blockers can backfire, causing users to walk away or, even worse, exposing them to malware.