14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook has been moving to limit the number of ad networks available to app developers to just networks that abide by Facebook's terms for ad providers. This is meant to ensure a level of quality for the ads and the safety and privacy of the users.
App developers will soon only be able to choose from a select list of providers. Notably missing from that list, though: any Google ad product, either AdSense or DoubleClick.
As All Things D spotted, there are some 40 ad providers vetted by Facebook, yet the biggest player in the business is conspicuously missing.
Note that this is not the final list and that there are a few more weeks until the list is enforced. But it's been in the works for more than a year, it doesn't look like it could simply be an oversight.
There are a couple of reasons why Google might be missing. Facebook and the Mountain View company may still be negotiating some terms, after all, it's safe to assume that Google's position in the ad business would warrant some sort of special terms from Facebook.
Or it could simply be that Facebook doesn't plan on allowing Google to serve ads on its site. There's no love lost between the two companies. Google and Facebook compete in a number of areas and one of the social network's big ambitions has always been overthrowing Google.
Recently, the two companies got into a spat over Facebook's use of Google contacts, which led to quite the arms race.
The whitelist goes in effect at the end of the month, so we can't really know for sure until then. But if Google doesn't get approved, any app using a Google ad product will have to change providers or stop using Facebook altogether.
"We’ve modified our Platform policies to require that developers operating on Facebook.com only use these ad providers in their apps," Facebook announced this week.
"We will begin enforcing this policy on 2/28, which should provide you and other developers the time required to switch ad providers or to help us sign terms with the ad providers you may be using. We will continue to add other ad providers in the coming weeks," it explained.