Facebook Declares War On Ad Blockers

Ads are a big part of any user’s experience on the internet, being the main way websites monetise their traffic after all. The same applies to social media – Facebook is the most sophisticated ad platform out there since it overtook Google. But, despite being necessary for both websites and social platforms, users don’t like them, as they often have a detrimental effect on user experience.

This has lead to the rise of ad blockers which remove not only the “good ads” that are relevant to a user, but also “bad ads”; those that nobody ever wants to see. So, ad blocking software has had a detrimental effect on ad revenue of course. What’s the solution?

Bad and ‘irrelevant’ ads have lead to the rise of ad blockers that Facebook is now bypassing

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Well, one is to make ads better and more relevant to users. The other, is to render ad blockers ineffective. Facebook is about to do both. Sensing the source of the problem, Facebook has announced “some changes”.

[quote]We’re expanding the tools we give people to control their advertising experience. Second, we’re providing an update on our approach to ad blocking on Facebook.[/quote]

Facebook has always worked hard to understand online ads and how to make users’ experience of them better. After all, ads are the company’s bread and butter. So, it also needs to work more on improving ads so that they are not irrelevant or disrupt user experience. So, today, Facebook is

[quote]building on these efforts by making ad preferences easier to use, so you can stop seeing certain types of ads. If you don’t want to see ads about a certain interest like travel or cats, you can remove the interest from your ad preferences. [/quote]

The company is also adding tools that will allow users to “stop seeing ads from businesses or organizations who have added them to their customer lists”. With this update, Facebook is giving users control of their ads experience.

Facebook giveth and taketh away. More control over ads – no more ad blocking.

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Another change – and in my opinion the most important – is that Facebook will “begin showing ads on Facebook desktop for people who currently use ad blocking software.” The idea is simple. As the company offers people more control, it is also taking some control away. So, if you thought you were never going to see an ad from Facebook again – think again. On desktop, your ad blocker soon won’t work anymore.

Also Read: Facebook Ads Target Users Who Are More Likely To Use Your App