As the ad-blocking war rages on, Facebook has announced changes this week that will force its desktop users to see adverts.
The social media giant said ad-blocking software, used by around 200 million people globally, was a threat to free online services and quality journalism – although it understood that many ads could be annoying or irrelevant.
The update will see new tools made available to improve the ad experience in users’ newsfeeds.
“As we offer people more powerful controls, we’ll also begin showing ads on Facebook desktop for people who currently use ad blocking software,” said Facebook’s advertising vice-president Andrew Bosworth in a blog post.
Ad blocking on mobile devices is not perceived to be such a big issue as the software tends to be less effective. However, with most users now accessing the platform through its mobile app and the use and development of ad-blocking rising globally, the threat to ad revenues remains.
In the most recent quarter Facebook generated £4.7bn in revenue from adverting.
Responding to the move, Adblock Plus said in its own blog post that Facebook had made an “unfortunate move” that takes a “dark path against user choice”.
The company’s communications and operations manager Ben Williams added, in a comment to one of his own users, that he expects a “speedy workaround” to the update.
Update: Indeed, Adblock Plus had found a workaround by August 10, followed by a counter attack from Facebook, followed by a workaround by Adblock plus…
