French publisher Le Monde will begin restricting content for ad block users, forcing them to whitelist or subscribe to the site in order to gain access. The action follows Le Monde’s previous month-long experiments in March and September, which were part of a larger collective effort by the French media to address the growing ad blocking problem.
In September, Le Monde served messages to readers with ad blockers installed, asking them to whitelist the site but did not restrict the content. The test resulted in 14% of ad block users whitelisting the site, compared to 13% in March. Le Monde has also said it will need to change its ad policies and provide a more user-friendly ad experience to be successful.