Facebook to remove Detailed Targeting options, starting next year

Facebook (now Meta) announced this month that it will remove Detailed Targetings, starting in January 19, 2022. The Detailed Targeting options that will be removed refer to causes, organizations, or public figures that relate to health, race or ethnicity, political affiliation, religion, or sexual orientation.

Facebook says the removal is based only on things people interact with and not on people’s physical characteristics or personal attributes. According to Facebook, the removal will be done after concerns from experts that targeting options like these could be used in ways that lead to negative experiences for people in underrepresented groups.

Meta is advising advertisers to use broad targeting such as gender and age, use Engagement Custom Audiences (people who have liked their Page or people who have watched their videos), Lookalikes, Website Custom Audiences, CRM data or precise Location Targeting.