4 ms·

I am curious given that I have an Ad-blocker for most websites and am not on FB. How do you even see ads? Have FB et al found a workaround for ad-blockers?

Jackim 7y ago
I have uBlock origin and I still occasionally see ads in Facebook feeds.
- username444 7y ago
  Facebook puts a lot of time and effort into obfuscation of course code. They generate random classes and IDs and interweave containers (divs, spans, custom HTML elements) on each page load so that software can't tell what is content and what is an ad. It's actually a really neat trick.
  - Jackim 7y ago
    It is definitely impressive. But it's something that I think could be defeated pretty easily with a pretty simple machine learning model. Could be a fun project!
    - kasey_junk 7y ago
      Note that your adversary has a huge ML capability and approaching nation state resources. Careful with the terms easily & simple.
      - technologic 7y ago
        lol the limit approaching nation state
  - zrobotics 7y ago
    What an absolute shame that they waste the time of all their highly-skilled developers on garbage like that. The user has specifically indicated, by running an ad-blocker, that they aren't interested in being marketed to. At least for me, ads that bypass my blockers really irritate me, to the point that whatever company was unfortunate enough to win that bid actually hurts themselves as I will be more likely to select a competitors product.
  - criddell 7y ago
    I'd love to see some regulation around this. Ads should be clearly and unambiguously identified as such in a machine-readable way.
Scoundreller 7y ago
Mobile? Hard to block in-app ads without a pi-hole. I avoid apps where I can, but it’s not always avoidable/practical. Or at work if you’re forbidden from installing “unapproved” software.
- vmurthy 7y ago
  Good point on mobile. I use Adguard Pro on mobile after reading about it on HN. Yet to test Pi-hole. The work part is unavoidable, I guess.
  - ameshkov 7y ago
    Consider trying AdGuard Home as well: https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdguardHome https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdguardHome
    - pnutjam 7y ago
      Thanks, this looks great. I put pi-hole on a vps I use, but once I started tinkering with it; it broke. It's a nice project, but seems fragile. I'm going to try adguard home. I like that it has the ability to control access, so I feel safer running it in the cloud.
  - zamber 7y ago
    Adguard is getting discontinued due to app store policy changes: https://www.macobserver.com/news/adguard-pro-discontinued/ https://www.macobserver.com/news/adguard-pro-discontinued/ For Android there's a FOSS alternative (no root needed) - DNS66, alternatively if one has root there's always AdAway. The only thing that stops working are monetization schemes in games - "watch this ad to double coins!", etc. Browser-wise - Firefox on Android has working desktop extensions and it's glorious. When it comes to native adverts (like timeline stuff in Instagram or Facebook) I just stopped using these platforms on my phone. Less time wasted on mindless scrolling. I yet need to find a good way to block ads in podcasts. Skipping takes effort and I don't have my hands available for fiddling with the headphone remote.
jccalhoun 7y ago
Facebook spends a lot of time making it hard to block ads on their site. I have turned off adblocking for the site because it is often ineffective for me and sometimes breaks things on the site.
- parliament32 7y ago
  If you're turning off adblocking, you're letting them win. Get a better adblocker and keep your lists up to date. For a site like FB any site breakage will be fixed in the lists almost immediately.

Jackim 7y ago

I have uBlock origin and I still occasionally see ads in Facebook feeds.

username444 7y ago
Facebook puts a lot of time and effort into obfuscation of course code. They generate random classes and IDs and interweave containers (divs, spans, custom HTML elements) on each page load so that software can't tell what is content and what is an ad. It's actually a really neat trick.
- Jackim 7y ago
  It is definitely impressive. But it's something that I think could be defeated pretty easily with a pretty simple machine learning model. Could be a fun project!
  - kasey_junk 7y ago
    Note that your adversary has a huge ML capability and approaching nation state resources. Careful with the terms easily & simple.
    - technologic 7y ago
      lol the limit approaching nation state
- zrobotics 7y ago
  What an absolute shame that they waste the time of all their highly-skilled developers on garbage like that. The user has specifically indicated, by running an ad-blocker, that they aren't interested in being marketed to. At least for me, ads that bypass my blockers really irritate me, to the point that whatever company was unfortunate enough to win that bid actually hurts themselves as I will be more likely to select a competitors product.
- criddell 7y ago
  I'd love to see some regulation around this. Ads should be clearly and unambiguously identified as such in a machine-readable way.

Scoundreller 7y ago

Mobile? Hard to block in-app ads without a pi-hole. I avoid apps where I can, but it’s not always avoidable/practical. Or at work if you’re forbidden from installing “unapproved” software.

vmurthy 7y ago
Good point on mobile. I use Adguard Pro on mobile after reading about it on HN. Yet to test Pi-hole. The work part is unavoidable, I guess.
- ameshkov 7y ago
  Consider trying AdGuard Home as well: https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdguardHome https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdguardHome
  - pnutjam 7y ago
    Thanks, this looks great. I put pi-hole on a vps I use, but once I started tinkering with it; it broke. It's a nice project, but seems fragile. I'm going to try adguard home. I like that it has the ability to control access, so I feel safer running it in the cloud.
- zamber 7y ago
  Adguard is getting discontinued due to app store policy changes: https://www.macobserver.com/news/adguard-pro-discontinued/ https://www.macobserver.com/news/adguard-pro-discontinued/ For Android there's a FOSS alternative (no root needed) - DNS66, alternatively if one has root there's always AdAway. The only thing that stops working are monetization schemes in games - "watch this ad to double coins!", etc. Browser-wise - Firefox on Android has working desktop extensions and it's glorious. When it comes to native adverts (like timeline stuff in Instagram or Facebook) I just stopped using these platforms on my phone. Less time wasted on mindless scrolling. I yet need to find a good way to block ads in podcasts. Skipping takes effort and I don't have my hands available for fiddling with the headphone remote.

jccalhoun 7y ago

Facebook spends a lot of time making it hard to block ads on their site. I have turned off adblocking for the site because it is often ineffective for me and sometimes breaks things on the site.

parliament32 7y ago
If you're turning off adblocking, you're letting them win. Get a better adblocker and keep your lists up to date. For a site like FB any site breakage will be fixed in the lists almost immediately.