# Brave (browser, MacOS) — suddenly, new 'Notification' ads **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 7, 2021, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brave-browser-macos-suddenly-new-notification-ads/952041 "2021-10-07T01:26:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brave-browser-macos-suddenly-new-notification-ads/952041/1 "2021-10-07T01:26:37Z")
I’ve been using a Chrome variant called “Brave” which lured me into adopting it because of its aggressive built-in ad-blocking. Aah, no more YouTube interruptions, banner ads, etc, yay! a) Just a couple days ago, the security certificates associated with a lot of older operating systems expired, and along with them, a significant portion of access to the web. I’m a closet luddite and still use MacOS 10.11 for everyday purposes although I have a 10.13 box for consultation work. b) Some sites won’t let me go there on this computer using Brave any more. I know why, and that’s not what I’m asking about. I’m slowly switching to Firefox (for purposes of this computer at any rate) but I’m lazy and haven’t updated the bookmarks yet, so I still use Brave for a lot of everyday browsing _anyway_. Well, c) All of a sudden, I’m getting ads — not inside the Brave browser window but as floating MacOS “notifications”, like this! [![](https://www.genderkitten.com/WS4/Upload_Download/wtf%20ad.jpg) ](https://www.genderkitten.com/WS4/Upload_Download/wtf%20ad.jpg) Never saw anything like that prior to the security certification expiration. Why would a browser whose raison d’etre is to snuff out ads be delivering pop-up notification ads like that? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brave-browser-macos-suddenly-new-notification-ads/952041/2 "2021-10-07T01:37:06Z")
> **[Let's Encrypt's root certificate has expired, and it might break your devices](https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/21/lets-encrypt-root-expiry/)** > > Older devices and browsers could run into trouble after September 30. This may be a problem by itself. It may be a compromise not associated with Brave and the expired root certificate. Let’s see if others here, Mac users or otherwise, are experiencing similar issues. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brave-browser-macos-suddenly-new-notification-ads/952041/3 "2021-10-07T01:42:31Z")
I use Brave on 2 PC’s and on my phone. No issues this week at all. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brave-browser-macos-suddenly-new-notification-ads/952041/4 "2021-10-07T02:06:05Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Why would a browser whose raison d’etre is to snuff out ads be delivering pop-up notification ads like that? Because Brave’s reason for existence is to deliver their own ads at the expense of others. You may be able to disable them by unchecking the “Brave Rewards” option in the settings, though I don’t know if it gets rid of all of them. Regardless, those ads aren’t from an expired certificate or anything; Brave is displaying them intentionally (you can tell from the triangle, and because they all advertise crypocurrency bullshit). I’m still looking for a browser or plugin on iOS that is remotely as good as uBlock Origin (whether on Chrome/Firefox/Edge), but so far I haven’t found one. ---
**Author:** ![ralfy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ralfy/32/600_2.png) [@ralfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralfy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brave-browser-macos-suddenly-new-notification-ads/952041/5 "2021-10-07T02:22:06Z")
Mabybe Firefox with uBlock Origin, about:config tweaks to harden it, and Multi-Account Containers. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brave-browser-macos-suddenly-new-notification-ads/952041/6 "2021-10-07T02:24:32Z")
No plugin support on Firefox for iOS. In fact I don’t think it’s more than a wrapper around the native Webkit renderer, due to Apple’s policies. iOS does have a content blocking API that works with various ad blockers, but it misses a ton of stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Stepcarver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@Stepcarver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stepcarver)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brave-browser-macos-suddenly-new-notification-ads/952041/7 "2021-10-07T06:05:35Z")
The same thing happened to me after the last update a few days ago(Android). Unchecking “Ads” under Brave Rewards in the main settings tab killed it. Supposedly it’s a way to contribute to content creators by watching ads, but even if that’s true those pop-ups block the screen and there’s no way to get rid of them without watching the ad or waiting(a long time)for the stupid thing to disappear on its own. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brave-browser-macos-suddenly-new-notification-ads/952041/8 "2021-10-07T11:00:45Z")
Yeah that worked. I guess that setting was there all along but some recent update un-chose the “off” setting and imposed those ads on everybody until we find and switch them back off again? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brave-browser-macos-suddenly-new-notification-ads/952041/9 "2021-10-07T12:52:48Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > I’m still looking for a browser or plugin on iOS that is remotely as good as uBlock Origin (whether on Chrome/Firefox/Edge), but so far I haven’t found one. I’ve been using DuckDuckGo’s iOS browser for about 6 months now and I’ve been happy with it. It’s a very basic browser, but they’re all about privacy, and most ads are gone or greyed out. DDG’s search engine is not the best, but it’s good enough for me; I don’t hate it. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brave-browser-macos-suddenly-new-notification-ads/952041/10 "2021-10-07T13:40:32Z")
I have never used Brave but have been aware of its development/etc, FWIW its whole concept was never being anti-ad, it was more creating an “opt-in” framework for advertising and requiring advertisers to follow standards for ads that allow them to be delivered safely. A big issue with a lot of ad networks is the ads they serve often contain malicious script and etc in them, and the sites that host them sometimes have little ability to regulate what ads are being served up. There’s also some weird stuff Brave does related to something they call a “Basic Attention Token”, I haven’t delved deeply into it, but I think in theory if you opt in to their ads, you actually get some shares of a weird cryptocurrency they have, that you can then “tip” websites with, the triangle-icon shown by the OP in the ad they were shown is actually the symbol for Brave’s “Basic Attention Token.”