> I don't know what advanced level jiu-jitsu the evil Google product managers are trying to pull off with this adblocker but I am glad I don't have to worry about it anymore.
There's two (not mutually exclusive) theories:
1: By shipping an adblocker themselves, the number of people who will install a third-party adblocker will dwindle, leading to less development of those and we might eventually end up with the only adblocker being Google-controlled, allowing them to slowly increase the number of ads seeping through without anyone being pissed off enough to write a proper adblocker.
They might even block other adblockers from the Chrome Store on the basis of them being unneeded now and clearly just security risks.
2: Their adblocker blocks ads by completely arbitrary criteria. "Intrusive ads", as Google calls it. But obviously, these criteria are cut out to mostly block ads from other ad networks. For example, Google unsurprisingly doesn't think that user tracking is intrusive.
Also, there's markets that Google can't compete in. Porn & piracy sites, for example. It's commonplace to have visually intrusive (and less broadly privacy intrusive) ads there. Google just doesn't have such ads in their catalogue and it would damage their reputation, if they did. So, by blocking those visually intrusive ads, there's a much higher chance of their ads being used there instead.