Facebook will let people block certain types of ads, starting with ads for alcohol and parenting
For the first time, Facebook will let people block certain types of ads from appearing in their News Feeds, starting with ads related to alcohol and parenting.
The social network's 1.8 billion users have already been able to select topics they're interested in seeing targeted ads for, like wine or skiing, but this is the first time Facebook has let people proactively block certain kinds of ads from being shown.
"This is an early test that will allow people to hide ad topics they prefer not to see," a Facebook spokesperson told Business Insider. "We are starting with alcohol and parenting since those were the two most common topics that came up in our research."
The new blocking tool is part of a redesigned ad preferences menu that Facebook announced on Friday, as first reported by AdAge.
Allowing people to block entire categories of ads from being shown in their feeds could negatively impact the social network's ad load, or the number of ads that are visible in the News Feed. During Facebook's last earnings call, CFO David Wehner cautioned the company projects ad load growth to "come down meaningfully" in mid 2017, which means it's running out of space to serve ads.