The Desktop Spam
Modern web browsers support the Web Notifications API, a system designed to allow websites to push alerts directly to your operating system’s notification centre (such as the Windows Action Center or macOS Notification Center) even when the tab is closed. Almost immediately upon visiting a news site, a blog, or an online store, Chrome will drop a prompt from the address bar asking, “www.example.com wants to Show notifications.” If you accidentally click “Allow,” that website gains the ability to permanently spam your desktop with advertisements, breaking news alerts, and promotional offers, severely impacting your productivity and focus.
Silencing the API Globally
To stop websites from ever asking for this permission, and to permanently block all websites from using the Notifications API to push alerts to your desktop, you must disable the feature deep within Chrome’s site settings.
Open Google Chrome, click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner, and select Settings. In the left-hand navigation pane, click on Privacy and security. In the main window, click on Site settings. Scroll down to the “Permissions” section and click on Notifications. Here, you will see the default behaviour setting. By default, it is set to “Sites can ask to send notifications.” You must select the radio button labelled Don’t allow sites to send notifications. This completely disables the API prompt globally. No website will ever ask you for permission again, and any site that previously had permission will instantly lose the ability to trigger system-level popups on your desktop.