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dhowe
AdNauseam
JavaScript2015–2026
dhowe / AdNauseam

AdNauseam

AdNauseam: Fight back against advertising surveillance

Web DevelopmentSecurity & Privacy
Explore on GitHubRead Hacker News discussions
41Distinct people
44Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
6.8KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

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What it is

AdNauseam: Fight back against advertising surveillance

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use was verified in the last source check.

What people are saying

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Also in these discussions

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This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 1:49:46 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year44 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2015-11-22 21:44:57 UTC to 2026-05-07 19:22:57 UTC.

02468102015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments20152016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 1 submissions, 1 comments2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 9 mentions; 1 submissions, 8 comments2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 0 submissions, 3 comments2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 5 mentions; 1 submissions, 4 comments2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 0 submissions, 3 comments20202021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 4 mentions; 1 submissions, 3 comments2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 6 mentions; 1 submissions, 5 comments2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 1 submissions, 2 comments2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 5 mentions; 0 submissions, 5 comments2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments. Incomplete calendar period.2026*

* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20152015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20162016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC211
20172017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC918
20182018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC303
20192019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC514
20202020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC303
20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC413
20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC615
20242024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC312
20252025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC505
2026 (partial)2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101

From the project README

An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.

Read the project’s introduction
It is not recommended to use AdNauseam at the same time as other similarly-purposed blockers AdNauseam is a lightweight browser extension that blends software tool and artware intervention to actively fight back against tracking by advertising networks. AdNauseam works like an ad-blocker (it is built atop uBlock Origin) to silently simulate clicks on each blocked ad, confusing trackers as to one's real interests. At the same time, AdNauseam serves as a means of voicing your discontent with advertising networks that disregard privacy and engage in bulk surveillance. In light of the industry's failure to address the excesses of network tracking, AdNauseam allows individual users to take matters into their own hands, offering active defense against surveillance, profiling and potential discrimination. The software thus represents a similar approach to that of TrackMeNot, relocating power in the hands of individual users, rather than vast commercial entities. For further information on this approach, please see this paper. About the project Web Site: https://adnauseam.io Authors: Daniel C. Howe, Helen Nissenbaum and Mushon Zer-Aviv Developers: Daniel C. Howe, Sally Chen and Alberto Harres License: GPLv3 (see included LICENSE.txt file for full license) Github Repo: https://github.com/dhowe/adnauseam/ Bug Tracker: https://github.com/dhowe/adnauseam/issues FAQ: https://github.com/dhowe/adnauseam/wiki/FAQ Can I contribute? Absolutely! We are looking for coders, designers, and translators to help on the project. If you are a coder or designer, just press Fork at the top of this github page and get started... Or, if you'd like to contribute a translation, please visit this page. If you're not sure where to start, look at the issues labeled HELP US CODE. Thanks! How to install the development environment Fork and clone this repository: $ git clone https://github.com/dhowe/AdNauseam.git How to build the extension for various browsers Or, support us with a monthly donation and become a backer! And special thanks to our open-source support contributors!
Read the full README on GitHub

What Hacker News says

44 sources
wafflemaker·May 7, 2026
https://github.com/dhowe/AdNauseam/wiki/FAQ#how-does-adnause... You seem more knowledgeable in how browsers and js work than me. Does the below text still mean that AdNausem is downloading and running all the advertising JS? Here's what's in the link: >AdNauseam 'clicks' Ads by issuing an HTTP request to the URL to which they lead. In current versions this is done via an XMLHttpRequest (or AJAX request) issued in a background process. This lightweight request signals a 'click' on the server responsible for the Ad, but does so without opening any additional windows or pages on your computer. Further it allows AdNauseam to safely receive and discard the resulting response data, rather than executing it in the browser, thus preventing a range of potential security problems (ransomware, rogue Javascript or Flash code, XSS-attacks, etc.) cause
Read the rest
d by malfunctioning or malicious Ads.
In Chrome removes claim of On-device Al not sending data to Google Servers
wafflemaker·Dec 8, 2025
From FAQ: >AdNauseam 'clicks' Ads by issuing an HTTP request to the URL to which they lead. In current versions this is done via an XMLHttpRequest (or AJAX request) issued in a background process. This lightweight request signals a 'click' on the server responsible for the Ad, but does so without opening any additional windows or pages on your computer. Further it allows AdNauseam to safely receive and discard the resulting response data, rather than executing it in the browser, thus preventing a range of potential security problems (ransomware, rogue Javascript or Flash code, XSS-attacks, etc.) caused by malfunctioning or malicious Ads. Although it is completely safe, AdNauseam's clicking behaviour can be de-activated in the settings panel. https://github.com/dhowe/adnauseam/wiki/FAQ#how-does-adnause...
In How I block all online ads
notpushkin·Dec 8, 2025
I don’t think it harms the publishers. If the ad network (well, Google) does detect it, I think they just won’t pay for the “fraudulent”¹ clicks? (And in best case scenario, you’re actually helping small sites!) Advertisers on the other hand will pay for nothing, yes. Some of them are small businesses. I wonder if there’s a way to click on big corp ads only... Edit: ¹ – added scare quotes, see https://github.com/dhowe/AdNauseam/wiki/FAQ#how-does-adnause...
In How I block all online ads
gruez·Aug 23, 2023
>https://github.com/dhowe/AdNauseam/wiki/FAQ#how-does-adnause... >AdNauseam 'clicks' Ads by issuing an HTTP request to the URL to which they lead. In current versions the is done via an XMLHttpRequest (or AJAX request) issued in a background process. This lightweight request signals a 'click' on the server responsible for the Ad, but does so without opening any additional windows or pages on your computer. Further it allows AdNauseam to safely receive and discard the resulting response data, rather than executing it in the browser, thus preventing a range of potential security problems (ransomware, rogue Javascript or Flash code, XSS-attacks, etc.) caused by malfunctioning or malicious Ads. Although it is completely safe, AdNauseam's clicking behaviour can be de-activated in the settings panel. Isn't this easily detectable? XHRs are easil
Read the rest
y detectable through various headers, so it's trivial to filter out the fake traffic from this with a few lines of code. I'd expect any ad network worth their salt to implement this. Failing that, thanks to ad fraud there's a whole industry of bot/ad fraud detection firms using browser fingerprinting and behavioral analysis to detect fake ad clicks. I have no doubt that an extension that's "clicking" on every ad using XHR is going to get detected and filtered. I'm very skeptical using this extension will ever achieve its policy goals of fighting against adtech or whatever. You might as well attach a "DNT: 1" header to all your requests.
In AdNauseam: uBlock Origin fork silently clicking ads on behalf of users
__MatrixMan__·Feb 21, 2023
I never thought I'd be installing something that describes itself like: > AdNauseam serves as a means of amplifying users' discontent But here I go. Edit: It would seem that brave blocks ads in a way that prevents adnauseum from clicking them first, bummer. (followed instructions here: https://github.com/dhowe/AdNauseam/wiki/Install-AdNauseam-on...) Edit: hmm, I can't seem to get the number to go above 0 for brave or chrome.
In AdNauseam – clicking ads so you don't have to
jeroenhd·Jan 6, 2023
This is exactly why I like the concept behind AdNauseam, the UBlock Origin fork that will click every single ad it encounters (but still hide the actual ads). I'm sure advertisers have had to invest into detection algorithms because of that addon. Edit: links: - Website: https://adnauseam.io/ - Addon for Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adnauseam/ - Addon for Edge: https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/adnauseam/... - Source and instructions for installing on Chrome: https://github.com/dhowe/AdNauseam Note that Google removed AdNauseam from their Chrome Store for interfering with their ad business. The fact they removed AdNauseam but not uBlock Origin is a good sign that the addon is doing something right!
In Please Sell My Personal Information

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