Meta will remove several detailed targeting options related to topics that people may perceive as sensitive. Vice president of product marketing, ads Graham Mudd explained in a blog post Tuesday that the options being removed reference causes, organizations or public figures that relate to health, race/ethnicity, political affiliation, religion or sexual orientation. (Adweek)
The Silicon Valley company said it was making the changes to limit the way that its targeting tools can be abused. In the past, these features have been used to discriminate against people or to spam them with unwanted messaging. (NYT)
The changes—which will go into effect on Jan. 19—will be rolled out across all of Meta’s platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp as well as its network of other websites and apps using Facebook’s ad-targeting tools. (Forbes)
Advertisers on Facebook’s platforms can still target audiences by location, use their own customer lists, reach custom audiences who have engaged with their content and send ads to people with similar characteristics to those users. (Reuters)