New Tab Page Sponsored Image

[petemill]

New Feature: implement branded wallpapers

Test plan

On brave/brave-core#4075

[kjozwiak]

Adding the QA Pass label as QA has been going through this since it landed. We've verified everything that was was fixed. This was also initially checked on Nightly as per the following:

• macOS - New Tab Page Branded Wallpapers (desktop) brave-core#4075 (comment)
• Linux - New Tab Page Branded Wallpapers (desktop) brave-core#4075 (comment)
• Windows - New Tab Page Branded Wallpapers (desktop) brave-core#4075 (comment)

[JTCozart]

This kinda goes against what brave is for... It is a shame that it was not announced and there is not an easy way to turn it off for the average user.

Tips for everyone looking to turn this off:

• Go to chrome://flags/
• Search for "Branded"
• Turn off the two feature flags there and relaunch brave. (chrome://flags/#brave-ntp-branded-wallpaper and chrome://flags/#brave-ntp-branded-wallpaper-demo).

Ads on the new tab screen should not be a thing. Especially in a browser that allows selective ads / ad blocking.

[petemill]

Hi @JTCozart The feature was announced with this detailed post https://brave.com/introducing-sponsored-images-in-brave/

Sponsored Images is part of Brave Rewards - enabling you to get rewarded for viewing non-intrusive branded background images on the New Tab Page.

You can disable sponsored images much more easily via the "hide sponsored images" link that pops up the first time an image like this is viewed, or by using the New Tab Page settings panel.