Facebook Inc is blocking ad blockers on the desktop version of its service, saying well-made, relevant ads can be “useful.”
At the same time, the world’s biggest social media company said it is giving users easier ways to decide what types of ads they want to see — unless, of course, the answer is “none.”
Ad blockers filter out ads by refusing to display page images and other elements that originated with a known ad server. However, Facebook has found a way around this. The desktop version of Facebook on Tuesday began showing users ads, even if they have ad blockers installed.
The changes do not affect the mobile Facebook app, which brings in the bulk of the company’s advertising revenue. As with most new Facebook features, the changes are being rolled out to users over time, so some people might see it before others.
While couching its move in the language of customer service — primarily by reiterating its premise that ads serve a purpose if they are relevant and well-targeted — Facebook is also upfront about needing them to make money.
Facebook vice president Andrew Bosworth said in a blog post that Facebook is a free service that is only able to operate because it makes money from advertising.
In the most recent quarter, Facebook made US$6.24 billion in advertising revenue, an increase of 63 percent from a year earlier. Mobile advertising — which is not affected by the changes — accounted for 84 percent of the revenue.
Several publishers, such as the New York Times have tried to work around ad blockers by asking users with ad blockers installed to turn them off in order to be allowed on a Web site. Other technology can “reinsert” ads that have been blocked. However, there are ways to configure ad blockers to stymie these efforts as well.
Facebook’s ad-blocker blocker works by making it difficult for software to distinguish advertisements from other material published on Facebook, such as photographs or status updates.
However, while users will not be able to stop ads from showing up, Facebook said it wants to make it easier for people to control the types of ads they want to see.
For example, if you do not want to see ads from a specific business, or ads that target a specific category like travel, cat owners or wine lovers, you can say so.
“We also heard that people want to be able to stop seeing ads from businesses or organizations who have added them to their customer lists, and so we are adding tools that allow people to do this,” Bosworth wrote.
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