Facebook will bypass adblockers on its desktop version. It must be said that Facebook and Google control almost 2/3 of the digital advertising market. However, they are not immune to the prevailing trend of using adblockers, which doubled in just over 2 years.
Industry watchers also note that the giants’ approaches to the problem have differed: for example, Google has become the member of the “acceptable ads” program run by Adblock Plus, which allows to display selected ads if they are nonintrusive and secure, and if the advertiser pays Adblock Plus a cut of the revenue.
As for Facebook, it also made a sideswipe at the acceptable ads program, announcing that it will only be bypassing adblockers on the desktop version. This means that mobile users can continue to experience an ad-free version. This is an insignificant number of users, because the vast majority of people use the company’s apps that are usually immune to adblockers.
According to Facebook, the new controls will allow users to manually remove certain preferences from their profile and opt-out of certain customer lists – for example, to make sure that “liking” a page doesn’t bring you ads from that firm. While Facebook hopes to sweeten the bitter pill for former adblocking users, it is likely to find itself embroiled in an arms race with adblocking firms: for instance, Adblock Plus has already claimed that Facebook’s decision was “an unfortunate move, because it takes a dark path against user choice”. Adblock Plus pointed out that circumvention of adblockers happens every day, and there is nothing that is hard to tackle. Facebook hasn’t disclosed how it is going to bypass adblockers on its desktop website.