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Since a week or so (say, September 25, 2022), my gnome sporadically shows notifications containing commercial ads. They are not permanent - visible for a second or two, three.

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How can I trace where they come from so I can turn them off? Is there a log file I can dig into?

4
  • Found this one: askubuntu.com/q/1087046/113324
    – xtofl
    Oct 5, 2022 at 8:31
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    it'd be helpful to know what apps you have open. they look like coming from the browser though
    – alfx
    Oct 5, 2022 at 8:42
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    @alfx how could you tell? After monitoring dbus messages to /org/freedesktop/Notifications I found out they indeed come from firefox.
    – xtofl
    Oct 5, 2022 at 11:35
  • I knew it was a browser because Taboola is an ads platform that sneaks into your OS notifications through the browser. to get rid of them, you probably need to delete your cache in Firefox or implement what you explained in your answer. well done!
    – alfx
    Oct 6, 2022 at 13:15

1 Answer 1

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Thanks to Does Gnome3 have a method to filter desktop notifications? I logged dbus traffic to /org/freedesktop/Notifications. Indeed after a while I found the culprit: it was a notification from Firefox.

$ dbus-monitor "interface='org.freedesktop.Notifications'"  | tee ~/notifications.log
...
method call time=1664969078.354566 sender=:1.53 ... 
  path=/org/freedesktop/Notifications;
  interface=org.freedesktop.Notifications;
  member=Notify
   string "Firefox"
   uint32 0
   string ""
   string "Une berline à la personnalité affirmée"
   string "Sponsored Content by Taboola"
   array [
...

Opening the Firefox "Privacy and Security" settings, down in the the "Block pop-up windows -> Exceptions" menu, indeed somehow a Renault domain was in the Allow-list. No idea how it got there, I guess I'll never know. I must have pressed a wrong button.

Anyhow, I'm removing that domain and hope to never see the pop-ups again.

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