Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has announced significant changes to its ad targeting options. Starting January 15, 2024, Meta will remove or consolidate some of its more detailed ad targeting choices. This change is primarily due to these options needing to be more specific and potentially sensitive.
Understanding the changes
Meta explained that the upcoming changes aim to eliminate targeting options that could be seen as sensitive, particularly those related to health, race, and ethnicity. This move is understandable, considering Meta's previous challenges with unethical and illegal ad targeting practices.
Existing ad campaigns using these detailed targeting options can continue until March 18, 2024. However, advertisers must update their targeting selections by this date. After March 18, Meta will halt ads that use discontinued targeting options, and affected ad sets may be paused.
Impact on advertisers
Meta has yet to disclose the exact categories being removed, making it challenging to gauge the full impact of these changes. This shift indicates a move away from manual, detailed ad targeting, which has been misused for discriminatory purposes.
Meta's focus is now on broader targeting and Advantage+ options. These rely more on Meta's algorithms and are believed to yield better results by reaching audiences that advertisers might not have targeted manually.
Future of ad targeting on Meta platforms
This development suggests that Meta is gradually moving towards exclusively offering systematic display options for ad campaigns. Advertisers should take note of this shift in their Facebook and Instagram ad strategies.
Meta has assured that affected advertisers will receive a warning notification in the Ads Manager, and where possible, Meta will provide alternative targeting suggestions.
