Facebook to Change How Businesses Can Advertise to Young People

Jill Goldstein - August 9, 2021

In late July, Instagram announced changes that they would be making to ensure they are creating an environment that is safe and private for young people. Those changes include:

1. Young people (under 16) will be defaulted into private accounts
2. Making it more difficult for accounts that are potentially suspicious to find young people
3. Limiting advertiser’s options on how they can reach young people (under 18) with ads.

This change is just one example of how Facebook is “building for the next era of personalized experiences.” People’s privacy expectations have changed, and Facebook is working towards new ways for businesses to reach customers while giving consumers greater transparency and control in how their personal information is used.

What will change on August 23, 2021?

Advertisers are currently able to target young people using a combination of age and interest or behavior-based targeting. This change will limit targeting to people under 18 to age, gender and location. These changes will be global and applied to Facebook, Instagram as well as Messenger.

What does this mean for advertisers currently targeting users under 18 through Facebook?

Ad sets that use these targeting options for reaching young people may see a decrease in audience sizes or potential reach. If you have an audience targeting an age range that includes users below and above the age of 18, it’s recommended that you split the audiences into two separate ad sets or campaigns to keep enhanced targeting for users 18+.

How else can you reach the under 18 audience?

Consider using different channels if you need to reach that under 18 audience. Snapchat and TikTok are both fantastic options. Both provide the ability to advertise to that younger audience with additional targeting layers such as interest or behaviors.

If you are a MoreVisibility client and would like more information about advertising to the under 18 audience, contact your Client Strategist. If you are not a MoreVisibility client and would like additional information, please contact the experts at MoreVisibility.