Install an ad-blocker on Chrome - Privacy Badger

In this guide, you'll learn how to install Privacy Badger on Chrome, a browser add-on developed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation to block malicious ads and trackers.

Last modified
20th October 2021
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Privacy Badger is a browser add-on to block ads and trackers preventing companies from tracking your online activities. It keeps an up-to-date list of known trackers that it finds through automated tests (not conducted from your computer but by dedicated servers), and regularly pushes the updated list to your browser. This means that as soon as new ad servers are detected (say a new tracking company launch its product or an existing company deploys a new domain) they are blocked for Privacy Badger users. As such, it works well alongside other addons such as uBlock Origin, which keeps a manually curated list on malicious services.

Note that Privacy Badger is a project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and its privacy policy can be found here.

Installation

Like any other add-on, install Privacy Badger by visiting the Chrome Web Store and clicking Add to Chrome (Fig. 1) and then clicking on Add when prompted (Fig. 2).

Fig. 1: Download Privacy Badger
Fig. 2: Add Privacy Badger to Chrome
Fig. 3: Notification of successful installation

Upon successful installation, a notification page opens on your browser and the Privacy Badger icon is added to the extension menu on your toolbar (Fig. 3). To pin the icon on the toolbar, click the extension menu, and then click the pin next to the Privacy Badger icon.

When you visit a website, Privacy Badger automatically blocks malicious trackers and ads, and sets a privacy protection level (green, yellow, or red) which you can manually adjust by clicking the toolbar icon (Fig. 4). To learn more about how Privacy Badger works, click the icon and then click Learn how Privacy Badger protects your privacy (Fig. 5), or visit its official documentation.

Fig. 4: Privacy Badger pop-up interface
Fig. 5: Learn more about Privacy Badger

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