Facebook announced on August 9, Tuesday that it would start avoiding ad-blocking software in order to show more News Feed ads. A few days later Adblock Plus released a workaround in order to fight the social giant, and claimed it was being anti-user. However, on August 12, Friday the world's largest social network started rolling out new code to crack the Adblock Plus work-around.
Facebook posted a statement on ad blockers. It claimed that the software was punishing Facebook users because they not only block ads but also posts from friends and Pages.
Mark Zuckerberg's company argued that ad blockers are general tools. It stated it is focusing on building tools such as ad preferences that give Facebook users more control, according to Gizmodo.
Facebook's main scruple with Adblock Plus' workaround is that it includes content from Pages and friends. However, other third-party tools can control content from Facebook users.
One example is The Wall Street Journal's "Blue Feed, Red Feed" tool. Facebook has not explained why such tools are allowed but it could be related to the social media company's $6.24 billion in Q2 ad revenue.
Blocking ads keeps Internet sites from making money. They often ask ad-blocking users to white-list their sites so they can stay in business. When some web sites detect ad-blocking software they even ask people to sign up for a subscription.
Facebook has 1.7 billion users. In recent years the company has had big growth in its mobile app, which it can control easily like Apple does.
When Adblock Plus launched its workaround it admitted that Facebook would probably act quickly by writing new code to make its ad filter useless. It stated the cat and mouse game between ad-blocking companies and Facebook would last for years.
Facebook has one key advantage. It can easily update homepages of the social network's users. Meanwhile, Adblock Plus often requires users to download software updates to get the latest workarounds, or manually edit filter lists.
In related news, Facebook has recently unveiled another Snapchat-like feature. It gives app users easier access to its camera and works with filters and stickers, according to Mobile World Live.
The new features were launched in time for the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. It is the first tech from video effects company MSQRD that Facebook bought in March.
Here's a video on the ethics of ad-blocking: