How to remove Taboola ads

Taboola is a legitimate advertising network, although can often be abused by adware developers

Taboola is a New York-based content recommendation network and advertising service that allows website developers to place ads on their sites for monetization purposes. Unfortunately, these platforms can be greatly abused by adware and other potentially unwanted programs in order to insert pop-ups, deals, offers, flashing windows, hyperlinks, and other intrusive content directly into web browsers. Consequently, users struggle to view legitimate content on various sites that they visit due to ads like “Sponsored by Taboola” or “Taboola ads.”

While the company itself has little to do with adware, users often see the name of the advertiser, and, due to intrusive behavior, makes them think that they are affected by Taboola virus. While this is not the case and no malicious software is installed, the intrusive ads can be stopped by terminating adware and other PUPs installed on the device.

Besides, some ads might be simply embedded within the site and have nothing to do with adware. In such a case, the best way to remove Taboola ads would be by installing the ad-blocking application.

Some of Taboola's publishers are NBC, Aol, The Weather Channel or MSN. However, these ads can be highly annoying because clicking on them usually throws the user to external websites. Besides, you can never be too sure when clicking on them – recently, scammers compromised the ad network to serve malicious ads to computer users across the globe.

Internet is an amazing place to learn new things and algorithms used on websites allow us to learn consistently by providing suggestions on what to read next. Unfortunately, Taboola can turn these things around. Although it hardly differs from other content recommendation platforms such as RevContent, Spoutable, or Outbrain, users tend to call Taboola ads annoying and often start looking for their removal guidelines.

This content recommendation platform is designed to present the users with sponsored news stories and click-bait^[1] celebrity news^[2]. It actually places annoying and intrusive ads and articles on web pages when the user browses the web. It is important to know that some ads and articles are part of the website you are visiting. Therefore, attempts to find Taboola-associated adware on your computer might be unsuccessful.

However, if you constantly see the following in the address line or at the bottom of Google Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or another browser, there is a high chance a potentially unwanted program is involved:

• Ads bought to you by Taboola;
• Taboola ads;
• Sponsored by Taboola;
• Redirecting to Taboola;
• Provided by Taboola, etc.

Besides Taboola ads, users might also start getting redirected to unknown websites, seeing sponsored links within search results, and have their homepage and new tab default address altered.

Ads might lead you to inappropriate or even disturbing websites – do not click on them to avoid the unwanted consequences

Having in mind all of the things we have already discussed, is not surprising why so many people want to block Taboola ads somehow. They often complain that seeing these ads makes their web browsing experience worse with the constant appearance of pushy ads, “Related articles” and “From around the web” news which distract them from finding relevant information on the Internet.

Taboola spam is not only annoying; you can never trust where you will end up after clicking on these irritating advertisements or articles it suggests reading. Although the ad network claims to be using strict restrictions for advertisers and prohibiting the use of offensive, threatening, inappropriate, dangerous, or scam content, recently the ad network was compromised and clicking on its ads used to redirect victims to tech support scam^[3] page.

The only thing that we want to accentuate is that you can never fully trust these ads and click on them without worries. You can never know what hides behind them!

Taboola business model is simple: it places eye-catching content to draw users' attention and make them click on it; in other words, it functions as bait. When the bait servers its purpose and the users click on the ads, Taboola redirect occurs and drops its victims off on some promoted websites.

Each of such redirects generates pay-per-click revenue^[4] for the developers of this PUP. You should avoid content marked as “Sponsored links by Taboola,” “Content you may like” or “Related articles.”

To sum up, we want to share our opinion with you – we believe that these marketing strategies are a bit pushy, however, when seeking for security and privacy online, you should see these ads the same way you see any online content. Just do not be too trustful and you will be fine.

Sadly, it seems that it is not really possible to avoid Taboola ads at all times because some websites simply choose to provide their advertisements willingly. In a recent Facebook update, which was rolled out completely silently, a new feature was added to Facebook apps for iOS and Android – an icon with a rocket icon on it.

Some news sites were quick to state that the new feature serves users content that looks like “a mixture of Taboola ads and Snapchat's Discover section.^[5]” However, the mysterious rocket button quickly disappeared as it was only a test feature. 

Hackers compromise the ad network to push malicious ads

Taboola content recommendation platform has recently become a victim of a cyber attack. While the company strives to strictly check the reliability of every advertiser, rogue ones managed to push malicious ads via security checks and this way abuse ad network for the promotion of deceptive ads.

According to analysis,^[6] the malvertising incident was caught on the MSN.com website on September 28th, 2017. Researchers noticed that clicking on one of Taboola's ads placed on the MSN news site initiated a redirect via trc.taboola.com to a tech support scam site on 4vxadfcjdgbcmn.ga that displays a rogue “Windows Security” pop-up which says:

The server 4vxadfcjdgbcmn.ga is asking for your user name and password.

The server reports that it is from Suspicious activity detected on your IP address due to harmful virus installed in your computer.

Call Toll Free now +1-833-335-1333 for any assistance. Your data is at serious risk.

The deceptive message then repeats all problems and issues that the user will run into if he attempts to open an Internet browser or restart the computer. It is obvious why the support scammers try to frighten the user not to take these measures because a) opening another browser could help the user find information about this fake “Windows Security” pop-up online, b) restarting the computer would shut down the scary pop-up. 

Distribution of adware that serves annoying ads

However, if you noticed that you see too many ads by this content recommendation network, you might be dealing with an adware^[7] program that serves these ads to you. That might be the case why the “Taboola virus” term appeared, say Novirus.uk experts.^[8]

Typically, the adware which presents Taboola content for you spreads via freeware and shareware as an additional component, exhibited as a “recommended download.”

When the virus settles down on the computer, it copies its command file taboola.dll to the Program Files and ProgramData folders from which it can then run its processes. In fact, the majority of ad-supported programs or browser hijackers are distributed like that.

The good news is that you can always opt-out of these additional components by adjusting the installation settings appropriately. You have to opt for either the “Custom” or “Advanced” installation option when installing new programs, and then you will be provided with a list of optional programs added to your selected one.

Deselect the checkboxes next to them to avoid installing them. That is all you need to do to prevent installing unlooked-for additions. If you are one of many users who cannot stand these advertisements, you are probably looking for a clear removal guide. Luckily, we have one prepared for your below.

Remove Taboola ads generated by suspicious programs

If you are looking for instructions on how to block Taboola ads, you have come to the right place. We present two different techniques on how to get rid of Taboola virus:

1. You can uninstall it manually using manual removal instructions;
2. You can remove Taboola using anti-spyware software.

If you do not want to see these Taboola articles or ads anymore, and if you are sure that your computer is free of spyware or malware, you can try to solve the issue manually.

For that, follow the removal instructions given below. However, if you would like to check the security status of your PC, consider installing reliable security software.

We recommend using security software because it can detect and remove the latest computer threats and also provide real-time protection. If you have any questions regarding uninstall, please contact our support team.