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Facebook will force advertising on ad-blocking users

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311–320 of 462 posts

Re: Facebook will force advertising on ad-blocking users

#311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's all well and good, but a key distinction here is that you are using Facebook for absolutely no out-of-pocket expenditure. Going to Vegas costs actual dollars. I suppose a stark, diametric alternative to being forced to view targeted ads would be Facebook as a paid subscription service. It's the age old issue of 'Someone has to pay for this party.'

The real-world analogy I use is that of a brick-and-mortar business like Walmart. Walmart is free to open a business and allow people off the street to shop there, browse their wares, and buy stuff if they want. They cannot force people to buy something for the privilege of visiting, and while they could require a "cover charge" to enter, they're probably going to lose most of their customers if they do this. It's Wa…

Contrast:

A small shop has a sign, and a bucket. "Put $1 in the bucket and test how good you are at some_game."

There is no one there - it's an unmonitored booth.

Do you try your hand at the game and not put in money? They lose nothing, it's a repeatable game with no consumables. There is no one watching you, and there is no line behind you either.

Re: Facebook will force advertising on ad-blocking users

#312

Arrogance from a seller of a good or service alienates/pisses off their customers. SCENE: You walk into a large retail TV/tech/stereo store. There are monitors displaying ads. NOT in a ubiquitous way; in an annoying ubiquitous way (ie. every 5 feet you walk in the store aisles, a monitor drops from the ceiling and displays an ad and you get used to counting your steps and every 5 feet you have to duck around the ad-b…

> Monopolies don't last.

This is simply untrue.

Re: Facebook will force advertising on ad-blocking users

#313
post #6

FB can't win this cat and mouse game. If the ads are to be distinguishable then there will be inherent properties that will lead to them getting blocked.

They don't have to win. All they have to do is stay ahead well enough to maintain a large target audience that can't be bothered to use the latest blocking technologies. Absolute security is impossible but that doesn't keep it from being an arms race that has some sort of equilibrium. Ad blocking has the same qualities.

Adblockers automatically update. Users won't have to do anything, and as soon as someone figures out how to bypass the ads and the list updates, everyone using an adblocker will benefit immediately.

Re: Facebook will force advertising on ad-blocking users

#314
post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why shouldn't I approach them the same way? Practically: because it leads to a race to the bottom, lowering to their level, the world just gets worse and worse Philosophically: because ethics are a fundamental part of who you are, and strangers acting unethically does not relieve you of their burdens

OK, so how far would you like to take that? Facebook will try to track me and my behavior, and tailor ads based on it, regardless of whether I'm a Facebook user and regardless of whether I'm logged in. In theory any link someone sends me might end up trying to connect to Facebook's advertising network and record information about my behavior. At what point do I "agree" to this? What do I get "in return" for this? Wha…

This is an overly specific distraction. Accidentally or unwillingly loading FB resources doesn't come with any ethical obligations, obviously.

I'm talking about being a Facebook user, as in maintaining a profile and logging on and using the site. My contention is that by affirmatively choosing to use their resources, an ethical obligation is created.

Re: Facebook will force advertising on ad-blocking users

#315
post #207

Facebook makes most of its money on mobile ads which are not affected by ad blockers. So why make a big deal announcing efforts to block ad blockers? A smart company like Facebook doesn't make moves accidentally. This announcement is more targeted towards publishers than it is towards ad blockers. Doesn't matter how affective the work around is - it sends publishers, who are holding off from instant articles and more…

Ad blockers exist on both iOS and Android now.

Most people use the Facebook app though

Re: Facebook will force advertising on ad-blocking users

#316
post #5

Good luck. I suspect in no time uBlock Origin will have found a way to remove the ad elements from the DOM, even if they are served directly with the html of facebook and not a 3rd party domain.

Which is interesting, because that removes about half the defense for using ad-blockers (third party ads are a security problem) when discussing the implications of consuming content while purposefully avoiding paying the cost (in space and attention) for that content. At least for the people that bother to accept content producers should get even the smallest consideration in constrol over how they allow their content to be consumed.

Re: Facebook will force advertising on ad-blocking users

#317
post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh but my EULA says "By injecting ads into the articles I read, you implicitly agree to provide me with free resources with no obligation on my part".

That's good, I may incorporate something like this into my User-Agent.

Hah! I'm suddenly laughing and crying inside at the thought of massive Useragent strings with individual EULAs in them.

Re: Facebook will force advertising on ad-blocking users

#318
post #295

For me personally Facebook doesn't matter. I wouldn't care less if it dies. I remember when I joined Facebook as part of my university. I was a hardcore user back then. May be this is a bold prediction. I predict Facebook will die a death like yahoo eventually. Most people I knew who were big Facebook users have all moved on. it'll be like having a Hotmail account.

What did you move to? IMO FB Messenger is the best IM network available. Their competitors are really awkward or impossible to use from a laptop.

Re: Facebook will force advertising on ad-blocking users

#320
post #280

I love FB Purity and would hate for it to stop working. It's what makes my FB feed useful.

FB purity? like how they show you posts in the order that they choose? reloading the page changes the order too...

It's a browser addon to cleanup Facebook: www.fbpurity.com
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