Facebook is toying with its News Feed advertising policy, possibly risking a backlash from marketers who are worried that repeated ads will raise auction prices and force advertisers to seek other platforms.

As Marketing Week reported, ads can now be repeated within News Feed twice a day, including ads from nonconnected user pages.

The doubling of the ad repetition was quietly implemented on Aug. 6 and leaked in a memo sent to agencies. In the email, Facebook said the frequency change was made "to enable businesses to reach people with more relevant content."

The change in ads raised the eyebrows of social media managers who are also concerned about ad quality within the News Feed.

Ben Silcox, head of data and technology at Havas EHS, told the publication, "… Only the brands that have the most compelling stories and the most interesting content that will get someone to nod, smile or share will fuel this advertising spend."

IProspect’s social media manager Phillip Dyte had a different concern. Facebook’s new policy, he said, will raise the price of auctions by allowing poor advertisers to double their unclicked impressions.

Facebook confirmed the changes to The Next Web, but clarified that its ad-serving changes do not necessarily mean that more ads will start popping up in News Feeds.

In a statement, Facebook said, "It is important to note that with this update, most advertisers will see very little change, if any, to the delivery of their ads in News Feed[s]. … We will not show more ads; rather, we are updating the spacing between ads, and relaxing some of the parameters around insertions of ads from the same advertiser."