Amazon to advertisers: No more Flash

“This is driven by recent browser setting updates from Google Chrome, and existing browser settings from Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari, that limits Flash content displayed on web pages”, Amazon explained.

Flash-related news isn’t usually good news for Flash these days. Amazon announced this week that beginning in September, Flash ads will no longer be accepted on Amazon.com or on the Amazon Advertising Platform.

It looks like Adobe Flash is finally on the cusp of its ultimate downfall.

Amazon added “This change ensures customers continue to have a positive, consistent experience across Amazon and its affiliates, and that ads displayed across the site function properly for optimal performance”.

Then, Mozilla blocked all versions of Flash in Firefox after security researchers discovered vulnerabilities that affect various operating systems, that hadn’t been patched.

“When you’re on a webpage that runs Flash, we’ll intelligently pause content (like Flash animations) that aren’t central to the webpage, while keeping central content (like a video) playing without interruption”, wrote Google software engineer Tommy Li in a blog post. Interestingly, it’s not Flash’s history of security woes that prompted Amazon’s decision. Critics suggest that this exploit is just another reason for the tech industry to move away from using Flash. It has played a huge role in the way web has transformed over the years, however, in the last few years, Flash started to lose its charm when companies decided to move to more efficient technologies.

Of course, Amazon’s announcement isn’t as big as if companies such as Google or Facebook made a similar announcement. It all started when Apple steadfastly refused to support Flash on the iPhone and iPad.

“This feels very much like preparation for the Chrome change”, said Undertone co-founder Eric Franchi. Web advertising, however, was an area Flash still dominated, at least for desktops.