
Facebook rolls out code to nullify Adblock Plus’ workaround - bko
https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/11/friendblock/
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r721
Current discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12274224](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12274224)

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laurent123456
Facebook response is incredibly stupid:

"We’re disappointed that ad blocking companies are punishing people on
Facebook as these new attempts don’t just block ads but also posts from
friends and Pages. This isn’t a good experience for people and we plan to
address the issue.".

Ad-blocker can be easily uninstalled so how can they "punish" anyone. Facebook
should just silently block ad-blockers and not act as if they are working in
their user's interest.

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CM30
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.

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

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detaro
Which will get them in trouble with FTC and local equivalents for not making
it clear what's an ad/"sponsored content".

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amyjess
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/ftc...](https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-
center/guidance/ftcs-endorsement-guides-what-people-are-asking)

~~~
detaro
fixed, thanks. to many TLAs...

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seibelj
FB shouldn't even bother, it's their company vs millions of extremely
motivated people who hate their ads. My bet is on the adblockers

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atom_enger
And so the cat and mouse game begins. Users of Facebook are using the service
free of charge(unless you're advertising or paying for something). I think if
fb can detect that a user is a paying customer they should disable ads but for
the majority of users this isn't the case.

Couldn't one just add fb ad server dns entries to their host file as
127.0.0.1? What could facebook do in that case besides bring up ad servers on
new domains?

Could we set up an ad blocking DNS service? (Again..another game of cat and
mouse.)

In either case, you are playing a losing game on a ball court owned by
Facebook. If you don't like the ads, don't use the service?

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Eric_WVGG
I was just wondering about that — does this only affect ads in Facebook, or
does it affect those embeds strewn everywhere?

I couldn't care less about what they do within their own garbage heap, but if
this enables to their junk across the rest of the web, it's a problem.

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mtgx
Facebook's plans to circumvent adblockers is illegal (in EU):

[https://www.privacy-
news.net/news_article/57ab2d7184f6fd5f5a...](https://www.privacy-
news.net/news_article/57ab2d7184f6fd5f5ad2ddcd)

[http://news.softpedia.com/news/blocking-ad-blockers-may-
be-i...](http://news.softpedia.com/news/blocking-ad-blockers-may-be-illegal-
in-the-eu-thanks-to-the-cookie-law-503359.shtml)

~~~
mdasen
It depends on how it is implemented. Those articles are about invading the
privacy of the user by detecting what software is on the machine. However, you
don't need to detect that someone has an ad-blocker to circumvent it.

First, you can simply disguise your ads. You can disguise them for everyone.
That doesn't require you to peek into what software is on the machine. You've
simply made it difficult for an ad-blocker to detect the ads.

Second, you don't have to peek into the software on a machine to determine
that content isn't loading. Let's say that someone is blocking my ad server
via /etc/hosts. I shouldn't be able to write code that tries to read a user's
/etc/hosts, but I can load content via AJAX, see that the content isn't
loading, and then take action based on that (maybe loading from a secondary
source, maybe not displaying the page if not all content can be loaded).

I'm not saying that Facebook is circumventing ad-blocking in this way, but you
certainly can attempt ad-block circumvention without reading a user's local
configuration. Facebook can install the ad-blockers like anyone else on their
own machines and see how they can disguise the ads as content so that the ad-
blockers don't detect them.

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corobo
If you disguise it so that a constantly updating piece of software can't
recognise it that means you've disguised it enough that the ad blocker
creators can no longer tell it's an ad - Which is illegal in at least the UK,
EU and US.

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SixSigma
Just use F.B. Purity, it is far superior

[http://www.fbpurity.com/](http://www.fbpurity.com/)

~~~
corobo
That site looks like it will try to steal something. Dodgy as hell scam site
feel to it.

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RRRA
Quick Batman, to the rendering engine!

