You have to explicitly find and enable the ad notifications. It can actually be a bit of a PITA to enable. It's not even supported on my phone. The purpose is i

You have to explicitly find and enable the ad notifications. It can actually be a bit of a PITA to enable. It's not even supported on my phone. The purpose is if you want to support websites, but don't want to spend money. The ad revenue goes in a wallet, and you decide who to disburse it to (they do have to be registered as a Creator -- Brave's system is subject to KYC laws). The revenue is small and not worth the notifications, so transferring funds to your wallet is generally a much better option. That thread looks like someone had a device with ads explicitly enabled. Perhaps someone else set it up, or he just forgot about it. That happens all the time with software. The case is that most of the bad press is inaccurate and overblown, and Brave has changed course when needed. Their track record is imperfect, but far better than the mainstream alternatives. I don't have sources other than that I've been using Brave as my primary browser on all devices.