Will Facebook force autoplaying video ads with sound on iOS users?

Facebook has been getting more aggressive with its advertising lately, even daring to try to get around ad blockers on its web site. But now the company is experimenting with forcing iOS users to experience autoplaying video ads with sound.

Roger Fingas reports for Apple Insider:

Facebook on Tuesday began a limited test of new video autoplay technology for its mobile app, including a version that begins playing audio automatically as a person scrolls past a clip in their News Feed.

At the moment the test is limited to some app users in Australia, but a portion of those people will hear audio from all forms of video — including ads and live streams — by default, as long as their iPhone or iPad isn’t muted, Mashable noted. Another group has audio off unless they tap an icon in the bottom right of a clip.

Both groups are being presented with an initial pop-up message explaining controls. For people with audio on by default, they can choose to silence video for each clip individually, or by toggling an “always off” option in the app’s Settings menu.

More at Apple Insider

Yet another reason to delete your Facebook account

I can’t imagine what Facebook is thinking by even experimenting with autoplaying video ads with sound in their iOS app. Few things are as annoying as an ad that automatically starts blaring sounds at the user while they are browsing a news feed or web page.

Most people seem to react with fury when encountering such ads, since they completely destroy any sense of immersion in what the person was doing before the ad loaded. Such ads are an incredible nuisance that are almost certainly guaranteed to anger users.

While it remains to be seen if Facebook will ever release these autoplaying video ads with sound to all of its users, it will certainly be yet another good reason to delete your Facebook account permanently.

I deleted my Facebook account and I don’t miss it

I must admit that I can’t fathom why people bother to use Facebook these days. I deleted my Facebook account quite a while ago, and I don’t miss it in the least. It was a terrible waste of time and it shredded my attention as I saw all the flotsam and jetsam that came through my news feed.

I also disliked the blatant narcissism, nasty political arguments, Facebook’s political bias, Facebook’s manipulative algorithm and much else about that service. You couldn’t pay me enough now to go back to using Facebook (or Twitter for that matter), the only social media service I have any respect for is Ello (which doesn’t spy on its users or sell their information to advertisers).

It will be very interesting to see if Facebook dares to force autoplaying video ads with sound on iOS users. If the company does go ahead with it, we might see more people shutting down their Facebook accounts and moving on.

Nothing would please me more.

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