Facebook Finds Way to Shove Even More Ads in Your Face

Social media and online advertising giant Facebook is constantly inventing new ways to deliver ads to users, this time placing them inside its Oculus Quest virtual reality system.

The Verge reports that Facebook plans to begin testing ads inside its Oculus Quest virtual reality system very soon. Over the next few weeks, advertisements will start appearing inside VR titles including Resolution Games Blaston along with two other unnamed apps.

Facebook plans to later expand the system based on user feedback, aiming to create a “self-sustaining platform” for VR development. Facebook first introduced ads in the Oculus mobile app last month, and its used limited Oculus data to target Facebook advertising since 2019, so integrating advertising tech with Oculus products was not entirely new but the addition of advertisements in actual VR games marks the first time Facebook has included ads in the Oculus VR platform itself.

The company stated in a blog post: “Once we see how this test goes and incorporate feedback from developers and the community, we’ll provide more details on when ads may become more broadly available across the Oculus platform and in the Oculus mobile app.”

Similar to Facebook’s non-VR apps, users can block specific posts or companies from appearing in ad slots and Facebook says it doesn’t plan to change how it collects or analyzes user information. Facebook claims that some of the most sensitive data, including raw images from Oculus headset cameras and weight or height information from Oculus Move fitness tracking, remains entirely on the user’s device. Facebook also reportedly has “no plants” to target ads based on movement data or recordings from its voice assistant.

A Facebook spokesperson did however clarify that the system will use information from users Facebook profiles as well as “whether you’ve viewed content, installed, activated, or subscribed to a Oculus app, added an app to your cart or wishlist, if you’ve initiated checkout or purchased an app on the Oculus platform, and lastly, whether you’ve viewed, hovered, saved, or clicked on an ad within a third-party app.”