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AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

Another nail in Flash's coffin as Google plans to ban it from ads

Google will ban Flash-based ads at the start of next year, continuing its move to phase it out of its products entirely.

GOOGLE WILL STOP accepting display ads that use Adobe Flash from June this year and will ban them entirely come 2 January 2017.

The company said that both its advertising businesses, Display Networks and DoubleClick, will be switching to HTML5 entirely next year.

Flash video ads escape this ban, however, with Google saying they “will not be impacted at this time” but the message is to change formats sooner rather than later.

During the early days of the web, Flash was the main plugin used to run animations and videos on any site. However, issues with performance, battery drain and a continuously growing number of vulnerabilities and security issues meant it became a liability for users in recent years.

Smartphones and tablets don’t support it – back in 2010, Steve Jobs penned an open letter saying why he wouldn’t allow Flash on iPhone or iPad – either meaning its foothold is solely on desktop.

Google has taken other steps to remove Flash from its products entirely including blocking it on its Chrome browser by default back in September and changing the format for YouTube videos to HTML5.

Even Adobe, the company behind Flash, has started encouraging people to move on by asking “content creators to build with new web standards” like HTML5.

Read: Does your browser crash frequently? Flash could be the problem >

Read: This legacy software for the web is finally biting the dust >

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13 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pat D'Arcy
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    Feb 10th 2016, 2:22 PM

    Why apple phased out flash years ago, not a fanboy, but worth a watch to see why this is significant.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPb9eRNyIrQ

    31
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    Mute Joe Conlon
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    Feb 10th 2016, 2:08 PM

    I hate being flashed anyway!

    28
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    Mute Mr A
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    Feb 10th 2016, 2:17 PM

    About time

    14
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    Mute Eric Byrne
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    Feb 10th 2016, 2:36 PM

    Was just a flash in the pan

    12
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    Mute Alan Ruane
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    Feb 10th 2016, 2:15 PM

    Flash by name, flash by nature.

    8
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    Mute Luke Sarpish
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    Feb 10th 2016, 2:19 PM

    Am i glad to see you or is that a canoe in my pocket..Down boy,down…

    5
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    Mute IrishGravyTrain
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    Feb 10th 2016, 2:27 PM

    Nursie. I like it firm and fruity.

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    Mute Papasmurf
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    Feb 10th 2016, 2:35 PM

    First flash gordon, then kodak, now this? Not a good time to be associated with flash.

    5
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    Mute Uncle Monty
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    Feb 10th 2016, 2:53 PM

    “Cancel the state funeral, tell the king to stop blubbing, Flash is not dead! I simply ran out of juice! And before five hundred girls all go ‘oh, what’s the point in living any more?’ I’m talking about petrol! Woof!”

    10
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    Mute The Dublin Cynic
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    Feb 10th 2016, 11:45 PM

    I’ll miss the website intros

    4
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    Mute Kieran Stafford
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    Feb 10th 2016, 11:36 PM

    You nerds are very poor at the jokes

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    Mute Eugene Tyson
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    Feb 10th 2016, 6:09 PM

    Adobe just released Adobe Animate which replaces Flash. In fact, Adobe gave up on flash a long time ago. They had html5 canvases in Flash. But it’s all moved to Adobe Animate now.

    1
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    Mute Pat D'Arcy
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    Feb 10th 2016, 6:12 PM

    I have tried it, its a fantastic intuitive tool.

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