Stop Facebook Ads – Complete Guide to Blocking and Limiting Ads on Facebook

Facebook ads are everywhere — from your feed to your stories, and even inside videos. While they can sometimes be relevant, many users find them intrusive and repetitive. The good news is that you can control, limit, or even stop Facebook ads from showing you altogether. This article will guide you step-by-step on how to reduce or eliminate these ads while protecting your privacy.

1. Adjust Your Facebook Ad Preferences

Facebook allows you to customize the types of ads you see. Here’s how to access and change your ad preferences:

1. Go to your Facebook Settings.
2. Click on Ad Preferences.
3. Under Advertisers, you’ll see which companies have shown you ads — you can choose to Hide Ads from specific advertisers.
4. Under Ad Topics, you can select “See fewer ads about…” to reduce ads related to sensitive or irrelevant topics like gambling, alcohol, or politics.

This is the easiest and most effective way to start reducing the number of unwanted ads.

2. Turn Off Personalized Ads

Facebook collects your browsing data to show “relevant” ads. If you want to stop this tracking:

1. Go to Settings → Ad Preferences → Ad Settings.
2. Turn off the following options:
   • Ads based on data from partners
   • Ads based on your activity on Facebook Company Products
   • Ads that include your social actions

Turning these off prevents Facebook from using your online behavior to target ads, significantly reducing personalization and frequency.

3. Manage Interests and Activity

Facebook assigns you “interests” based on what you click, like, or follow. You can remove these manually:

1. Go to Settings → Ad Preferences → Your Interests.
2. Review the list and click the “X” next to any topic you don’t want Facebook to use.

You’ll notice immediate changes in the kinds of ads you see once you clean up your interest list.

4. Limit Facebook’s Off-Facebook Activity Tracking

Even when you’re not on Facebook, the platform tracks your interactions with websites and apps through a feature called Off-Facebook Activity. You can clear this data by:

1. Going to Settings → Your Facebook Information → Off-Facebook Activity.
2. Click Clear History.
3. Select Manage Future Activity and toggle it off.

This stops Facebook from collecting data from external sites, making ad targeting less effective.

5. Use the “Why Am I Seeing This Ad?” Option

If an ad still appears that you dislike, click on the three dots (⋯) on the top right of the ad and choose “Why am I seeing this ad?”. Facebook will explain why it’s being shown to you. From there, you can:

• Hide the ad.
• Hide all ads from that advertiser.
• Adjust your ad preferences directly.

This feature helps Facebook learn your preferences and gradually reduce irrelevant ads.

6. Use an Ad Blocker

If you want a more aggressive approach, install a browser extension like uBlock Origin, AdBlock Plus, or Privacy Badger. These tools block most Facebook ads, though some may still appear in embedded videos or stories.

Keep in mind that using ad blockers may affect Facebook’s performance slightly or block some non-ad content.

7. Consider Using Facebook Lite or a Third-Party Wrapper

If you’re using Facebook on Android, the Facebook Lite app or privacy-focused third-party browsers like Friendly for Facebook or SlimSocial often show fewer ads. They use lighter versions of the platform, which means fewer scripts and ad trackers.

8. Limit Permissions and Data Sharing

When using Facebook on your phone, check what data it’s accessing:

• Go to your phone’s Settings → Apps → Facebook → Permissions.
• Turn off access to location, microphone, and contacts unless necessary.

This minimizes how much data Facebook can use to target you with ads.

9. Log Out or Delete Your Account (The Nuclear Option)

If you’ve tried everything and still can’t stand the ads, you can log out or delete your Facebook account entirely. While this is a last resort, it’s the only way to completely stop Facebook ads — because Facebook won’t have any data to target you with.

To deactivate or delete:

• Go to Settings → Your Facebook Information → Account Ownership and Control.
• Choose Deactivation and Deletion.

Final Thoughts

Facebook ads aren’t going away anytime soon, but you don’t have to be bombarded by them. With the right privacy settings and controls, you can drastically reduce the number of ads you see — and make your Facebook experience cleaner and more enjoyable.

Whether you choose to adjust preferences, use ad blockers, or limit data tracking, you now have the tools to stop Facebook ads from taking over your feed.