New Facebook Feature Ignores AdBlockers, Pushes Unwanted Ads Anyway

Ad Blockers are the premier tools for users to avoid those pesky pop-ups that always ruin a chill surfing session. However, Facebook doesn’t agree that users get to have this privilege, which is why it is implementing a feature that will just ignore Ad Blockers and push ads on users anyway.

Facebook has started implementing sweeping changes in how ads appear on the desktops of users by removing their distinguishing features that make them stand out to tools that block typical ads, The Wall Street Journal reports. According to Facebook’s vice president of ads and business platform, Andrew Bosworth, the reason for forcing the ads to show despite Ad Blockers is because of how crucial ads are to the social network.

“Facebook is ad-supported. Ads are a part of the Facebook experience; they’re not a tack on,” he said.

According to estimates, as many as 26 percent of internet users in the U.S. are using ad blocking tools on their desktops. The use of such tools is to prevent entities like Facebook and Google from ruining their browsing experience with annoying ads as well as to lower the risks of malware and viral infections that can also come with the pop-up ads.

By forcing ads down the throats of its 1.6 billion users, it’s a fair bet that Facebook is going to turn off a sizable chunk of its base. Then again, most of its monthly users access the social media site via smartphones and the new forced ad feature doesn’t extend to mobile apps, so this should dampen the fallout of the move.

For those who will be affected by Facebook’s decision to circumvent ad blockers, the social network is also giving users more control over how ads show up on their feeds, according to Forbes.  Users will be able to determine which ads they will see, placing preference on those that actually matter to them.