As part of efforts to ensure its apps are age-appropriate for teens, Meta has announced it is making changes to their ad experiences – effective from February.
Among key takeaways, teens’ previous engagements across apps, such as Instagram posts and Facebook pages they’ve liked, will not inform what ads they see. In addition, brand will only be able to use age and location to reach teens; with gender removed as a targeting option. As a final tier of protection, teens will be able to tell Meta the types of ads they don’t want to see, and learn more about how ads work on Meta apps.
Explaining the new rules in a blog post, Meta said: “We recognise that teens aren’t necessarily as equipped as adults to make decisions about how their online data is used for advertising, particularly when it comes to showing them products available to purchase. For that reason, we’re further restricting the options advertisers have to reach teens, as well as the information we use to show ads to teens.”
Meta said it is “also introducing more teen-specific controls and resources to help them understand how ads work and the reasons why they see certain ads on our apps. These changes reflect research, direct feedback from parents and child developmental experts, UN children’s rights principles and global regulation.”
