Pop Up Spam
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When I open my blog (and I’ve had others tell me the same), around 50% of the time, a pop up spam advert redirects me to another page (things like winning iPhones or downloading random software).
I’m fine with adverts on the free plan, but these spammy pop ups will put people off reading my articles and I want them to stop.
My site is: theredsquirrelnews.wordpress.comThe blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Please provide this specific info:
(a) Exactly what kind of device you are using to connect to the internet and to WordPress.com.
(b) Exactly which browser (and version of it) you’re using by checking here if necessary http://supportdetails.com/
(c) Screenshots can be helpful. You can use http://snag.gy/ or http://cloudup.com to share screenshots and link to them here. If you use the WordPress.com guide for screenshots http://en.support.wordpress.com/make-a-screenshot/ you can and upload it to your Media Library, and return to this thread to provide the file name so Staff can examine it.Then type modlook into the sidebar tags on this thread for Staff help. How do I get a Moderator/Staff reply for my question? https://en.support.wordpress.com/getting-help-in-the-forums/#how-do-i-get-a-moderatorstaff-reply-for-my-question Then please subscribe to this thread so you are notified when they respond. To subscribe look in the sidebar of this thread, find the subscribe to topics link and click it.
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It happens when I click through from Facebook or, worryingly, the official WordPress app (when I preview my posts).
I’m using an iPhone 5s and the other person who reported it to me was using an iPhone 7. -
Hi there,
We’ve had several reports of this, and are looking into it, but we don’t serve any pop-up advertising on WordPress.com so it’s unlikely that we’re the source.
This is likely caused by adware running in the Safari browser. Google “iOS pop ups” and you’ll find many reports of this happening on a variety of websites, not just WordPress.com. Ads like this have been showing up on iOS since at least 2014 from what I can find, but it appears to be on the increase in the past few weeks.
Set your device to airplane mode and force-quit Safari. Restart Safari and completely clear the browser cache and history. Then disable airplane mode. Based on the articles I could find about this issue, that should stop the pop-ups from appearing.
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Hi
Like theredsquirrelnews, I’m getting the same thing with my site and I too am concerned it is also happening to my readers when I share links to posts, and they in turn start to think I’m knowingly spamming them.
It has happened to me on on multiple occasions, on multiple days on two of my own devices, and iPhone 7 and an iPad 3 both of them using Safari in the latest version of iOS.
I was able to take a screenshot on one occasion: https://jwspot.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/img_0894.png
The website in the screenshot is one page that is redirected to, the other (from memory) was something like premium-iosoffers.com
It doesn’t happen every time on every post, I think it may be linked to whichever adverts are getting served on the page, but when it happens I can’t scroll down to them in time to see which ones are there.
Update:
I’ve been able to trigger it again and get another screenshot, this time on my iPhone 7, by repeatedly reloading the same page while viewing the adverts. Multiple adverts Amazon appeared with no issue each page load. Then these adverts visible in the background of the screenshot appeared for the first time along with the pop up. The page also took a couple seconds longer to load on that occasion than during the previous refreshes.Screeshot: https://jwspot.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/img_1014.png
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I have followed the advice for blocking these pop ups but it does not work.
Is there any further news on a fix for this problem?
Thanks in advance!
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I’m having the same issues. 2 or 3 people have complained that they have been spammed while reading my last blog post. I have been trying to build my audience, and this problem is putting people off rather than encouraging them.
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The slow response in fixing this is worrying. Certainly makes me think twice before recommending WordPress to others.
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I first noticed this happening on my iPad on June 17th when checking a link from Twitter to my WordPress site. A pop up appeared saying I was chosen for a free iPhone 7. I couldn’t get out of the pop up, in the end I had to press ok and then close app.
It has happened repeatedly over the las 3 days. I don’t know how to stop it, so would be grateful for advice.
Thanks,
Marina -
Hi all,
It appears one of our advertisers might be exploiting a vulnerability in the iOS software to slip in these ads, so we’ve disabled most ads on iOS for now while we track down exactly which advertiser is responsible.
So these ads shouldn’t show up any more on WordPress.com sites. If you have WordAds enabled on your site this will mean you won’t be getting any impressions for visitors using iOS devices.
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Hi Kokkieh, just as I thought and detailed in the other forum thread, the adware or spam pop-ups are via ads. I’m glad to hear WP has disabled ads until it is all resolved. Looking forward to a final resolution.
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This happened to a visitor to blog.alex4d.com (I’m paying for a domain redirect). Link to a tweet pointing this out:
https://twitter.com/twittlik/status/882182819446968321
They found this when they browsed to:
https://blog.alex4d.com/2011/07/22/fcpx-widescreen-matte/Alex4D
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@alex4d Was that today? We’ve completely disabled ads from the advertisers responsible for those pop-ups shouldn’t appear for anyone.
Can you ask him to please follow the steps I suggested in my first reply here: https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/pop-up-spam?replies=17#post-2966126 and see if that helps?
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I understand it was someone else viewing your site. The point is, they shouldn’t be seeing the pop-ups any more, so I’d like to first rule out that it’s not their device that’s the source. Pop-ups like these can also be caused by adware running in the Safari browser.
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