Starting on February 20, 2023, Facebook announced that some targeting and campaign options will no longer be available for ads that include people under the age of 18 globally (under 20 in Thailand and under 21 in Indonesia) in your desired audience. These changes are part of Facebook’s ongoing efforts to strengthen the privacy and safety of teens across its platforms.

What’s Changing

The following targeting options will no longer be available to target ads to teens:

1. Targeting by gender
2. Targeting by ZIP code or locations smaller than cities (custom location radius or “pin drop”)

In addition, the following campaign options will no longer be available to target ads to teens:

1. Advantage+ catalog ads (formerly known as dynamic ads)
2. Certain optimization goals for ad delivery, including app installs, app events, video views, post engagement, value, ad recall lift, landing page views, leads, conversations and event responses
3. Cost per result goal or ROAS goal as a campaign bid strategy
4. Link clicks (CPC), Page likes, ThruPlay or 2-second continuous video views as a selection for when you are charged
5. Certain ad placements (both manual and automatic placements), including Facebook Groups Feed, Facebook Business Explore, Facebook in-stream video (desktop), Facebook Search Results, Messenger Sponsored Messages, Facebook Instant Articles, Audience Network Native, Banner and Interstitial, Audience Network Rewarded Video, and Audience Network In-Stream Video
6. Lift tests for ad sets targeting teens

What Impact Will These Changes Have on Your Existing Campaigns?

If you are currently running campaigns that use one or more of the affected options to reach teens, your ad sets will be impacted as follows:

1. Ad sets that target teens only will be paused starting April 7, 2023.
2. Ad sets that target both teens and adults will continue to run after April 7 for adults only but will no longer deliver to people under the age of 18, 20 or 21 depending on location. This may result in audience size decreases. Delivery will automatically adjust to target adults only unless you update your ad sets to continue reaching teens using allowed options.

How You Can Prepare for These Changes

If your campaigns are affected, Facebook recommends updating your ad sets before April 7, 2023. To continue to reach teens, you can remove targeting or campaign options that are no longer available and adjust your ad sets to only use allowed options.

Note that in the context of this product update, “teens” refers to people aged 13-17 in most countries, 13-19 in Thailand and 13-20 in Indonesia.

In conclusion, while these changes may impact how you currently target and deliver ads to teens, they are necessary to ensure the safety and privacy of young users on Facebook’s platform. It’s important to update your ad sets before April 7, 2023, to continue reaching teens using the allowed options.