4 ms·

So, how long till the adblockers get past Facebook's new work around and it all repeats again? This sort of cat and mouse game is going to accomplish nothing i

by CM30 10y ago

So, how long till the adblockers get past Facebook's new work around and it all repeats again? This sort of cat and mouse game is going to accomplish nothing in the long run.

fma 10y ago
Keeps some developers employed, though :)
Touche 10y ago
The sidebar content should be blockable, but the inline content... they can make that indistinguishable from user content, can't they?
- detaro 10y ago
  Which will get them in trouble with FTC and local equivalents for not making it clear what's an ad/"sponsored content".
  - amyjess 10y ago
    FTC, actually [0]. I have to wonder if Facebook's anti-adblocking games are going to, at some point, get the FTC to stomp them flat. [0] https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/ftcs-endorsement-guides-what-people-are-asking https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/ftc...
    - detaro 10y ago
      fixed, thanks. to many TLAs...
  - Touche 10y ago
    Wasn't aware of these requirements, thanks!
- CM30 10y ago
  Depends. I suspect you could somehow try and parse the content to determine whether it's likely to be an ad, and then block it if so. Yeah that'd get a lot of false negatives, but there has been work into calculating the percentage that a piece of text is an advertisement or fake. Something like Fakespot for ads could be the next adblock integration. Then, the content could be literally identical on a mark up level but still be blocked by the program. At which point, it's another cat and mouse game. How much do you try and 'hide' that something's an ad before the adblocker starts blocking real content? Of course, it's questionable whether trying to hide an ad too much is even 100% legal. Remember, the Advertising Standards Authority and others like them require sponsored posts and content to be clearly marked as ads. So then Facebook ends up in an awkward situation. Do we leave the legally allowed disclaimer (which provides a great ad blocking hook), or remove it and potentially get sued?
  - niftich 10y ago
    Why not parse each timeline item to determine the originator? If the originator's name (or some other attribute) matches that of someone on the user's friend list, show the content; otherwise, don't. Using the official Facebook API, doing this is very much possible in a custom client. To do in with a browser addon, you may not always have access to internal user IDs, but can still fall back to imperfect name comparisons, which should still give decent results.
    - Touche 10y ago
      You see more than immediate friend posts on Facebook.
- teaneedz 10y ago
  Ads, including native, require clear verbiage. Ad blockers will always be able to target that verbiage. https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/native-advertising-guide-businesses https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/nat...
LeifCarrotson 10y ago
Eventually, Facebook will make the ad content markup indistinguishable from feed posts from friends. It's currently really easy to block most ads: usually, they are literally from different servers, or when they are in divs with IDs prefixed with "advertisement". I suppose the end game is when ad block scrapes your friends list and determines whether a post was actually from a friend or not, assuming Facebook never goes beyond the pale and impersonates a friend, posting ads under their name. At that point, the only advertising available is submarine sponsored stuff: paying popular people to post about your product.
- amyjess 10y ago
  > I suppose the end game is when ad block scrapes your friends list and determines whether a post was actually from a friend or not, assuming Facebook never goes beyond the pale and impersonates a friend, posting ads under their name. > At that point, the only advertising available is submarine sponsored stuff: paying popular people to post about your product. Which violates FTC regulations and will get Facebook slapped down. Ads are required by law to be clearly identifiable as ads.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

by CM30 10y ago

So, how long till the adblockers get past Facebook's new work around and it all repeats again? This sort of cat and mouse game is going to accomplish nothing in the long run.

fma 10y ago

Keeps some developers employed, though :)

Touche 10y ago

The sidebar content should be blockable, but the inline content... they can make that indistinguishable from user content, can't they?

detaro 10y ago
Which will get them in trouble with FTC and local equivalents for not making it clear what's an ad/"sponsored content".
- amyjess 10y ago
  FTC, actually [0]. I have to wonder if Facebook's anti-adblocking games are going to, at some point, get the FTC to stomp them flat. [0] https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/ftcs-endorsement-guides-what-people-are-asking https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/ftc...
  - detaro 10y ago
    fixed, thanks. to many TLAs...
- Touche 10y ago
  Wasn't aware of these requirements, thanks!
CM30 10y ago
Depends. I suspect you could somehow try and parse the content to determine whether it's likely to be an ad, and then block it if so. Yeah that'd get a lot of false negatives, but there has been work into calculating the percentage that a piece of text is an advertisement or fake. Something like Fakespot for ads could be the next adblock integration. Then, the content could be literally identical on a mark up level but still be blocked by the program. At which point, it's another cat and mouse game. How much do you try and 'hide' that something's an ad before the adblocker starts blocking real content? Of course, it's questionable whether trying to hide an ad too much is even 100% legal. Remember, the Advertising Standards Authority and others like them require sponsored posts and content to be clearly marked as ads. So then Facebook ends up in an awkward situation. Do we leave the legally allowed disclaimer (which provides a great ad blocking hook), or remove it and potentially get sued?
- niftich 10y ago
  Why not parse each timeline item to determine the originator? If the originator's name (or some other attribute) matches that of someone on the user's friend list, show the content; otherwise, don't. Using the official Facebook API, doing this is very much possible in a custom client. To do in with a browser addon, you may not always have access to internal user IDs, but can still fall back to imperfect name comparisons, which should still give decent results.
  - Touche 10y ago
    You see more than immediate friend posts on Facebook.
teaneedz 10y ago
Ads, including native, require clear verbiage. Ad blockers will always be able to target that verbiage. https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/native-advertising-guide-businesses https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/nat...

LeifCarrotson 10y ago

Eventually, Facebook will make the ad content markup indistinguishable from feed posts from friends. It's currently really easy to block most ads: usually, they are literally from different servers, or when they are in divs with IDs prefixed with "advertisement". I suppose the end game is when ad block scrapes your friends list and determines whether a post was actually from a friend or not, assuming Facebook never goes beyond the pale and impersonates a friend, posting ads under their name. At that point, the only advertising available is submarine sponsored stuff: paying popular people to post about your product.

amyjess 10y ago
> I suppose the end game is when ad block scrapes your friends list and determines whether a post was actually from a friend or not, assuming Facebook never goes beyond the pale and impersonates a friend, posting ads under their name. > At that point, the only advertising available is submarine sponsored stuff: paying popular people to post about your product. Which violates FTC regulations and will get Facebook slapped down. Ads are required by law to be clearly identifiable as ads.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]