BTIG analyst Joel Fishbein recently addressed a major elephant in the room for online advertisers like Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL and Facebook Inc FB: ad-blocking software. So far, the rise of Internet advertising has been meteoric, but could ad-blockers derail the train?

Ad blocking software comes in several forms, including extensions, browsers, VPNs or DNS solutions that filter web pages to allow Internet users to view sites ad-free. In addition to removing annoying ads, by blocking delivery platforms’ tracking software, many ad blockers increase the speed, security and privacy of surfing the web as well.

Juniper Research estimates that the online advertising industry will lose $26 billion to ad blockers by 2020. Some websites have already begun fighting back against ad blockers by running software to prevent users from accessing sites unless their blockers are disabled.

This week, German software developer Eyeo announced that its popular Adblock Plus software is approaching 1 billion downloads and is currently installed on more than 100 million global devices.

“Ad blocking software is…

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