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Facebook will be sticking ads with polls, games and AR into News Feed

The interactive advertising formats were already being tested in Instagram and other parts of the Facebook universe. Now they'll be in your feed.

Joan E. Solsman Former Senior Reporter
Joan E. Solsman was CNET's senior media reporter, covering the intersection of entertainment and technology. She's reported from locations spanning from Disneyland to Serbian refugee camps, and she previously wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. She bikes to get almost everywhere and has been doored only once.
Expertise Streaming video, film, television and music; virtual, augmented and mixed reality; deep fakes and synthetic media; content moderation and misinformation online Credentials
  • Three Folio Eddie award wins: 2018 science & technology writing (Cartoon bunnies are hacking your brain), 2021 analysis (Deepfakes' election threat isn't what you'd think) and 2022 culture article (Apple's CODA Takes You Into an Inner World of Sign)
Joan E. Solsman
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Facebook is introducing new, interactive advertising to its News Feed, adding ads that integrate polls, simple gaming and augmented reality into the main destination people go when they check the most popular social network in the world. 

With more than 2 billion daily active users, Facebook is one of the world's most powerful advertising giants. Its massive advertising revenue totaled $55 billion last year. But a string of scandals centered on ad targeting and user privacy have put the company on the defensive -- and led to a record $5 billion fine from the Federal Trade Commission in July. 

Facebook said that the companies and the brands behind these new interactive ads won't see individual-level data about how people participate. So if you take part in a poll, the company and brand will get aggregate info about how many people voted for each option, but they won't see individuals who participated, Facebook said. Augmented-reality ads -- which could, for example, show how different lipstick colors look on a live camera capture of your face -- won't save your image, the company said.

Watch this: Facebook is walloped with $5 billion fine (The Daily Charge, 7/24/2019)