March 27, 2026
When “Brave” meets “Rusty”
Brave Browser unable to block certain ads due to Rust language limitations
Brave fans discover their ‘ad-blocking hero’ has a Rusty kryptonite, and the comment section explodes
TLDR: Brave Browser admits it can’t block some stubborn popups because of limits in the Rust programming language it’s built on, while uBlock can. The community is split between power users defending Brave with complex workarounds and frustrated users saying, “I don’t care why, I just want the popups gone.”
Brave Browser users just found out their favorite “ads be gone” browser has a secret weakness: it can’t block some flashy pop‑ups because the programming language it uses, Rust, doesn’t support a fancy kind of search pattern trick that rival blocker uBlock relies on. And the community reaction? Pure chaos. One camp is yelling “not Brave’s fault, blame Rust!”, insisting the browser is doing its best and that people just need to tweak settings, report bad sites, and stop living on shady sports and anime streams. These power users are dropping wall‑of‑text guides about window tricks and sandbox rules like it’s a dark art.
The other side is rolling their eyes so hard you can hear it. They say, “I don’t care whose fault it is, I just don’t want popups,” accusing Brave of hiding behind technical excuses while pretending to be the ad‑blocking king. Some are joking that Brave is “good… as long as you don’t visit anything fun or slightly illegal.” Memes fly about “Rust damage” and “Brave: the browser that bravely lets popups through.” In between the drama, a few exhausted users beg for a simple button that just says: No popups. Ever. But where’s the fun in that when you can have a full‑on browser soap opera instead?
Key Points
- •Brave’s adblocker can block scripts and use scriptlets such as `prevent-window-open.js` (##+js(nowoif)) to prevent popups created via window.open().
- •A `close-window` scriptlet can automatically close new tabs or popups matching specified URLs using window.close(), without altering browser history.
- •Content Security Policy rules (e.g., $csp=sandbox with selective allows) can be applied to restrict popups while still permitting necessary site functionality.
- •Rust’s regex implementation lacks lookaround support, limiting Brave’s ability to use some of the advanced popup filters employed by uBlock.
- •On sites where popup hosts frequently change, regex-based filters are particularly important, making user reporting and filter updates necessary for effective blocking in Brave.