Technology

Posted on August 10, 2016 by staff

Facebook to force ads on users with ad-blockers

Technology

Facebook will force users of its desktop site to see ads on their newsfeeds even if they have ad-blocking software.

The social media giant promised users that they would be able to personalise ads by choosing the brands and businesses they prefer.

“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.

“People don’t like to see ads that are irrelevant to them or that disrupt or break their experience.”

Facebook announced a mammoth $6.2billion (£4.7bn) revenue from advertising in their recent quarterly results, largely based on a boost in mobile ads.

Ad-blockers do not usually work on mobile devices – although there is a growing trend towards using them – but around 200 million people worldwide use such software on their computers, which could be worth billions to Facebook.

Increasingly intrusive adverts have led to the surge in people using ad-blockers, but they pose a threat to the many businesses which rely on online ad revenue.

Many of the UK’s national newspapers, for example, have reportedly joined forces to seek a solution to the potentially catastrophic problem of declining revenues in this area.