Tightening the advertising policy for young users, especially teens, Meta on Tuesday announced it was removing gender as an option for advertisers to target the said demography.
In a blog post, Meta informed that beginning next month, the advertisers will only get their hands over the age and location data of teens globally.
“Beginning in February, advertisers will only be able to use age and location to reach teens; we are removing gender as a targeting option.”
The social media giant noted that teens did not have the bandwidth to make decisions about their online data which necessitated the policy change.
“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.”
Additionally, any teenagers’ previous engagement across Meta’s subsidiary applications will not affect the kind of ads they see.
Starting March, the teens will have a greater say in the kind of ads they see on their feeds. Ad Topics Controls, a feature already available on Meta will allow teens to choose their preferences and control the ads.
Currently, Meta does not allow advertisements related to alcohol, financial products and weight loss products to be served to minors.
Why is Meta changing the policy?
The changes rolled in by Meta, owner of Instagram of Facebook come in the backdrop of accusations that dubbed the platform harmful for young users.
Moreover, the changes may have been fast-tracked after European Union (EU) regulators slapped the company with a $414 million fine over data breaches.
The 27-nation bloc also banned the company from persuading users to accept tailored advertisements based on their online behaviour.
(With inputs from agencies)
