Facebook is going to give brands the power to avoid having their ads near certain topics


Facebook is planning on building advertiser topic exclusion controls that will enable brands to avoid having their ads appear next to content they don’t think is suitable. The social network will initially test the controls with a small group of advertisers.

The solution will enable brands to select a topic, such as ‘Crime and Tragedy’, and Facebook would prevent their ads being placed near any content which falls under that category on the news feed. Facebook uses the example of a children’s toy company maybe wanting to avoid their content being placed next to an ad for a new crime show.

Though Facebook has revealed its plans to introduce the tool, the company warns that the developing, testing, and learning elements will take most of this year to carry out.

I’m sure many advertisers will be thinking that this solution is long overdue and now they only have to wait a little while longer.