Meta defines teenagers as users ages 13-17 —  with the exception of users in Thailand and Indonesia where it is defined as ages 13-19 and ages 13-20, respectively.

What does this mean?

• No targeting teenagers based on their gender.
• No targeting teenagers by zip/postcode or designated market areas. You can still target geographically by cities.
• No “Catalogue Ads” targeting teenagers (previously called “Dynamic Ads”).
• The following Optimisation Goals cannot be used when targeting teenagers: App Installs, Video Views, Post Engagement, Ad Recall Lift, Landing Page Views, and Leads and Conversations.
• The following placements cannot be used when targeting teenagers: Facebook Marketplace, Video Feeds, Groups Feeds, Business Explore, Messenger Stories, Search Results, Messenger Sponsored Messages, Instant Articles, and Audience Network. 
• Cost per result goal or ROAS goal will not be available as bid strategies.
• The following selections for charges will not be available: link clicks (cpc), page likes, thruplay, or two-second continuous video views. 
• Experiments (known as “lift tests”) will also no longer be available when targeting teenagers.

This follows updates made last year which made the following unavailable (in relation to teen advertising): 

• Detailed targeting by specific interests and behaviors 
• Language targeting
• Custom audiences, including remarketing data lists
• Look-alike audiences 

The second in this series of changes all seems to be in a bid to protect teenagers and increase Meta’s ad transparency. Another update will see the “Why am I seeing this ad?” tool improved to help make access to ad controls easier and simpler, as well as explaining how activity informs the algorithms we’re all aware of. 

If you are unsure of how this may impact your live ads or have questions about advertising and strategy, please get in touch.