Facebook is going to ignore your ad blocker (but it’s not all bad news)

Facebook is taking one step backwards, and one step forwards on how it lets users control the ads they see on the platform.

First the bad: Facebook will start ignoring your desktop ad blockers. Facebook needs to make money somehow, so this isn’t surprising. To appease you, Facebook is giving users a set of revamped ad controls instead.

These start with a  simpler set of ad preferences. You can access them by clicking on the upper right hand corner of an ad and tapping ‘why am I seeing this?’ You’ll be provided with information on why you are being specifically targeted for this ad, such your age, employer, location or interests.

If you want to change things up, tap on ‘manage your ad preferences.’ Are you a homebody who doesn’t care about travel? Then you can ignore those kinds of ads. You can also stop seeing ads from businesses and organizations that have you on their customer list.

Conversely, you can do the opposite and specify the types of ads you’d rather see.

Facebook’s justification is that most people use ad blockers in order to stop “annoying, disruptive ads,” so giving people more relevant ads means that they won’t need to block them.

All that is true, but companies have been trying to make ads better and more interesting for years, with only moderate success (if any). But hey, at least you’re getting a teensy bit of control over what you see.

Your move, adblockers.