Most of us are concerned with what happens to your information if a shady employee or hacker gets a hold of your money and personal information. Or you just don’t like the idea of being tracked by big companies because it feels like a privacy invasion. The bad news is that, on the internet, it’s almost impossible to access anything without this concern looming over your head because you are right in feeling so. Your bad feeling is good news for websites that use data to get advertising revenue from ad networks. Before you worry, let’s review this: 

An advertising network puts a bit of code called a “cookie” on your computer so that every time you visit one of the member sites, the site spots the cookie and lets the ad network know where you are, in order to send you personalized ads. What sucks more than that is the fact that these sites share what you do to build a database of what you like and don’t like, and even specific items that you looked at. This database is why ad networks know exactly which jacket should pop up on your ads to entice you, the user, to click on it. When you add Facebook into these ad networks, it’s a scary source of data. Think of all the interactions you’ve had over the years on Facebook. Before when websites had to figure out what you’re thinking based on what you do, Facebook will now tell them exactly what you’re thinking. Every “like,” every click, every status update and photo caption you write adds up. Facebook is a bit of information that advertisers would love to add to your file. And you’d be surprised how much money it can make them. Once you click Facebook Ad and follow up, you are letting the social media giant Facebook which now owns Instagram and Whatsapp earn intense revenue. Facebook has an Ad Manager where typical brands can advertise their ads on Facebook posts. So learning to block ads goes a long way. 

How To Block Ads on Facebook

According to the Facebook website, this is how you can block ads on Facebook. Although you can’t opt out of seeing ads entirely, you can influence the types of ads you see by giving Facebook your feedback or hiding ads and advertisers that you don’t want to see.

To hide an ad please follow these directions:

  1. Click (the three dots) on the top right corner of the ad.
  2. Choose Hide ad.
  3. Follow the on-screen instructions.

To hide all ads from a certain advertiser: 

  1. Click on the top right corner of the ad and choose Why am I seeing this?.
  2. From the Options dropdown menu, select Hide all ads from this advertiser.
  3. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Lastly, to block sponsored ads, revisit the Ads settings page of Facebook and remove the “new” ad categories. Facebook doesn’t fully block sponsored ads, you  just have to keep blocking your categories from time-to-time.

How To Stop Ads on Facebook

The best way to avoid Facebook ads is to install an ad blocker, which frequently is a browser extension. Even with an ad blocker enabled. It won’t guarantee a 100% result, yet will significantly decrease the amount of ads. We’ll continue fighting the good fight, and in the meantime, make sure your filter lists are up-to-date so that you get the latest updates and releases.

Some ad blockers for Safari are: 

  • AdBlock Max 
  • AdBlock 
  • Magic Lasso
  • AdGuard 
  • Ka-Block! 
  • uBlock Ad and 
  • Stuff Blocker 
  • Adblock Plus 
  • Ghostery Lite 
  • AdLock

Ad blockers for Chrome are:

  • AdGuard
  • uBlock Origin
  • Ghostery
  • Ad Remover
  • AdBlock and AdBlock Plus
  • Adaware Ad Block

Firefox

AdBlock Plus (ABP) is a popular ad blocker, with extensions available for Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera as well. 

Please keep in mind that Facebook is an enormous company with multiple teams devoted to ad blocking circumvention. We always want to know how to stop ads on Facebook successfully, but it’s not always possible with 100% accuracy.