Here at Ausbury Headquarters, we are becoming addicted to Facebook. However, is anyone else really annoyed by the new targeted ads in the left column? How many times a day to I need to be reminded that my abs are non-existent? How many girls in their underwear does my teenager have to see every day?
My son and I did some research and here’s how to block all the bothersome ads on Facebook. This is quite easy to do if you’re using Firefox – just use the Firefox add-on called Adblock Plus and add a few custom filters.
How to block Facebook ads within the Firefox browser:
1. Go to this page: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865
2. Click: Add To Firefox
3. Wait for Install button to become active then click it.
4. Restart Firefox.
5. When Firefox opens, you should see a tab: Add Adblock Plus Filter subscription
6. If you want to block ads on many other sites, click the button next to EasyList (USA), then click Subscribe.
7. Under the Tools menu in Firefox, select Adblock Plus Preferences.
8. Click the Add Filter button.
9. Copy and paste the following filter: facebook.com#*(social_ad) and click OK.
10. Repeat steps 7 and 8, then copy and paste the following filter: facebook.com#*(social_ad_advert) and click OK.
11. Close Firefox, then open it and go to Facebook. Adblock Plus should block all Facebook ads.
If you haven’t yet ditched Internet Explorer, here is the download link for Firefox:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
We’re still searching for an easy way to block Facebook ads in Internet Explorer. I’ll keep you posted as we keep looking.
*** UPDATE December 2, 2009 ***
Just added a Macbook and have figured out how to block Facebook ads in Safari via a custom CSS file. Here’s how:
1. Open the TextEdit program.
2. Create a new file and be sure to click Format > Make Plain Text
3. Copy and paste this into the new file you just created:
#ssponsor, .footer_ad, .banner_ad, .social_ad, .ad_capsule, .sidebar_ads, .adcolumn, .admarket_ad, .sidebar_item.sponsor, .emu_sponsor, .home_sponsor { display: none !important; }
4. Save the file with this file name: custom.css and make sure to click the Use.css button. Put the file somewhere easy to find on your hard drive.
5. In Safari, click on the Safari menu, then go to Preferences, Advanced, Stylesheet. Select “Other” and choose the custom.css file saved in Step 4 above.
6. Refresh Facebook and your ads will be gone.
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Thank you, a very useful post, and it still works on the new facebook layout. Don’t suppose you know how to block the thumb up and down icons as well?
)
(please email me if you do
Works for some but not all ads. Anyone know how to block the “gift” images?
Thanks for this great tip.
I found that using facebook.com#*(sponsors) also removed the More ads and Advertise links. I used that instead of the social_ad_advert variant.
Cheers,
Worked a treat! Thanks!!
for the thumbs
just right click on them twice each and block them (tmb_up, thmb_down, and the hoover variety
On facebook’s new layout you can add this one:
facebook.com#*(sidebar_ads)
Will be block entire adds section, social and adverts too.
Greets & stuff.
when it comes to blocking facebook ads, nothing beats the greasemonkey script. try it out.
[...] http://ausbury.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/block-facebook-ads-in-firefox/ [...]
Just so you know there’s a free adblocker for IE called adblock pro, I only just found it myself, but it seems to work well. Now I just have to justify why I would ever use IE…
[...] on, so I had to come up with a solution. Google turned up a simple answer to my problem via The Asbury Blog and I no longer have to put up with Facebook ads. Check it out: How to block Facebook ads within [...]
thank you for these tips, i hate seeing this guy holding his nipple (looks like it) that’s in a shaving razor ad!!! adblock does rock!
Noticed this week (2/2/2009) that Facebook is not displaying other people’s profile pages if this add-blocking is enabled. Any new methods out there? I’ve resorted to keeping my browser width narrow enough to hide the sidebar ads. (Facebook if you are reading I only resorted to ad-blocking since your thumbs down doesn’t block ads I find offensive. In fact, 80% of ads you serve me I have 0% interest in.)
This is awesome !!! Good work
Yess!!! finally!
Thank you very much!
I’ve also added facebook.com#*(class=adcolumn) to the Adblock filters. It hides the complete ad bar in the user profile.
Thank you for this, my conscience is happy again
I’ve been looking for a solution to this, thanks for sharing!
I tried all those options but I still get ads on the right side. (12/3/2009)
this hasn’t worked for me. on a mac 10.5.6 using Firefox 3.0.7
This fix used to work great – however, I think the new ads (as of around sometime last month) need a different filter – I can’t get rid of them. Here is the filter to get rid of the pictures at least:
http://creative.ak.facebook.com/ads*
Another useful filter is:
facebook.com#*(banner_ad)
Try using these two – they seem to do the trick with the new facebook layout:
facebook.com#*(adcolumn_wrapper)
facebook.com#*(home_sponsor_nile)
Removes the facebook side bar ads when you’re browsing, and also the sponsored ad from the main page when you log in.
Does it work with the new facebook layout?
awesome, thanks! in response to the previous poster, it works fine for me (2009-07-07) with the new facebook layout! i recommend this to EVERYBODY.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. They are gone!!!!!
wow guys this helped me alot..but this is a nice thing ur doing here…keep up the good work.. =)
Oh thank god! Those singles ads were driving me bonkers!
Thanks a miilion, KV. Worked like a charm!
Installed all of them, except the one that kills the whole sidebar. Looks fine!
Thank you very much for posting this stuff.
Thanks a lot…
Thank you very much, it worked a treat and easy as pie. In England, using Apple OSX 10.5.8; happily ad-free. Thanks again, chaps x
To Block Ocial Networks:
http://www.taringa.net/posts/ebooks-tutoriales/3716751/bloquear-messengers-IMs-y-Redes-Ociales.html
Some ads have sneaked back in again… If anyone works out what to block, please update asap!
thank you VERY much for this :>
I can not thank you enough for doing this. This has been quite a bother for many reasons and now it is gone. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! What a blessing.
great works !
thanks a lot !