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Chrome 71 to Start Showing Warning Alerts on Unclear Billing Websites

Chrome 71 to Start Showing Warning Alerts on Unclear Billing Websites

By Tasneem Akolawala | Updated: 9 November 2018 13:52 IST

Chrome 71 to start warning users about sites that provide insufficient billing information

Highlights

Google to warn users of sites that provide unclear info on billing
This warning will roll out with Chrome 71
Chrome 71 is set to roll out from December

Google is working hard on improving the end user experience of Chrome users, and it is planning to block abusive ads on pages starting with Chrome 71. Now, the company has announced that it will also start warning users of sites that offer insufficient mobile subscription information which often lead to unknown charges. With Chrome 71, Google looks to show a warning before these pages, so that users can make informed decisions when signing up to mobile based subscription services.

There are several websites that often bill users unexpectedly, without any fair warning or information about certain subscriptions that are added without the users' knowledge. For example, a gaming website that asks users for their phone details, and the next month's phone bill arrives with subscription charges to the online gaming service that they didn't really subscribe to. There are many cases that users have subscribed to a service and aren't aware of the pricing strategy, or the fact that it's a bi-monthly fee or an annual fee - the information provided isn't detailed and sufficient to provide full clarity.

To this effect, Google looks to help the user and provide with a fair warning for such sites. This warning will help unaware users, and the tech giant will offer them with a choice to proceed to the page or go back if they so prefer. Google explains in its blog, "We want to make sure Chrome users understand when they are going through a billing flow and trust that they'll be able to make informed decisions while browsing the web. To adequately inform users, it's important to provide a sufficient level of details within the billing page as outlined by our new mobile billing charges best practices."

Google informs website developers that the billing information should be visible and obvious to users, and that the user must be aware of the cost they're going to incur before accepting the terms. The fee structure must be easily understandable and must be simplified if it isn't so. Google will start showing these warnings with Chrome 71 that is expected to roll out in December. The warning will be shown to users entering unclear billing pages, and the developer will be notified through the Search Console as well. These websites will then have to make the correct changes to get the warning removed. Google says that this new warning in Chrome will not impact the website's ranking in Google Search. To recall, Chrome 71 will also block abusive ads on pages starting with Chrome 71.

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