After Adblock Plus managed to win a brief reprieve from Facebook advertisements, the social network has once again put its foot down. According to a report from TechCrunch, the social network has implemented code that will once again circumvent AdBlock Plus.
The war between the ad-blocking software and businesses that offer ad-supported services online is a long one, but it heated up this week when Facebook announced it would subvert ad blockers and display advertisements on the desktop site.
To accomplish that, Facebook made advertisements indistinguishable from other types of content that appear on the platform, removing the identifying characteristics that ad blockers look for.
In response to the development, users of AdBlock Plus—the most popular of the ad blockers—found a code that made it possible to once again block ads from appearing on the site. AdBlock Plus added the code to its filter list, making it available to anyone using the software.
However, according to a statement provided to the Daily Dot from a Facebook spokesperson, the social network believed the workaround was “punishing people on Facebook as these new attempts don’t just block ads but also posts from friends and Pages.”
Facebook has now reportedly managed to make sure its advertisements will make it past all blocking efforts, as will other content caught in the mix. Surely another attempt from AdBlock Plus to subvert Facebook’s strategy will come; the ad blocker previously described the back and forth to the Daily Dot as “cat-and-mouse games.”
According to some, a Google Chrome extension called F.B. Purity may still be capable of blocking ads and other unwanted content. At the very least, it will give you the tools to do things like filter out any post containing “Trump,” so it has that going for it.
H/T TechCrunch