Try not to take advantage

Facebook lifted restrictions on apps that "promote, facilitate, or reference" the sale of alcoholic beverages, according to a post on its developer blog.

There remains just one condition: Developers must use the Demographic Restrictions feature to ensure that ads are not served to minors. As of Jan. 6, 2009, all alcohol-related content — from branded apps from alcohol companies, to unbranded gifting apps or drink images — must be targeted only to those of legal drinking age.

To make that task easier (and shift liability concerns to developers), Facebook added the ability to change age restrictions based on location. Advertisers can specify a "type" — in this case, "alcohol" — and the parameter for that ad will be set automatically in accordance with alcohol laws in different areas.

"Alcohol" is the only "type" currently available under this module, but Facebook said others deemed useful or necessary could follow.

Last week, likely in response to consumer gloom and a poor economic climate, Google decided to permit beer ads on search pages.