Google Chrome to punish websites that trick you into clicking hidden links disguised as Play buttons

It's a major problem, with a fifth of users complaining to the company about encountering unwanted content online

Google Chrome is stamping out one the most annoying things users experience while browsing the web.

It is tackling unwanted redirects, where a webpage unexpectedly navigates to a completely different page for no clear reason.

It’s a major problem, and Google says 20 per cent of feedback reports it receives from Chrome users on desktop include complaints about encountering unwanted content.

To combat this, Google will roll out three updates.

The first of these will prevent third-party content embedded in webpages from redirecting you to another page.

“We've found that this redirect often comes from third-party content embedded in the page, and the page author didn't intend the redirect to happen at all,” Chrome product manager Ryan Schoen wrote in a blog post.

“To address this, in Chrome 64 all redirects originating from third-party iframes will show an infobar instead of redirecting, unless the user had been interacting with that frame.”

Chrome 65, meanwhile, will tackle sites that open the desired destination in a new tab when you click a link, but redirect the main tab to a completely different page.

“This is effectively a circumvention of Chrome's pop-up blocker, one of users' favorite features,” said Mr Schoen.

“Starting in Chrome 65 we'll also detect this behavior, trigger an infobar, and prevent the main tab from being redirected. This allows the user to continue directly to their intended destination, while also preserving the context of the page they came from.”

From early January, Chrome will prevent sites from tricking you into opening new windows or tabs by disguising links to third-party websites “as play buttons or other site controls, or transparent overlays on websites that capture all clicks”.

Google has been focusing on cleaning up Chrome over recent months, and also plans to give the browser the ability to mute and even block intrusive ads.