• Financial Times, Thursday, August 9, 2007 11 AM

In the aftermath of a British advertiser exodus, Facebook has now updated its ad system to help advertisers avoid appearing next to listings on some of the site's estimated 6 million user groups, including the right-wing British National Party. Companies like Vodafone, Virgin Media, the BBC and First Direct pulled advertising from Facebook after such placement.

The new blocking feature would simply allow advertisers to opt-out of appearing in certain groups. Owen Van Natta, Facebook's chief operating officer, says one of the "pillars" of the site is that users and advertisers can control where their information appears. As for the BNP pages, Van Natta said only a small number of advertisers appeared there, and most it contacted chose to keep serving ads there.

The problem arose from the fact that UK advertisers on Facebook bought ads from third-party networks, which often keep ad placement out of a client's purview unless they indicate they want a certain site blocked. Thus, it's a relatively simple thing for Facebook to say it can block certain sections, but it's up to the third-party operators to participate in the program on behalf of their advertisers. However, Facebook should soon be able to sell ads through a UK-based sales team, as the social network has plans to add a new London office.

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