Meta announced that it has started working to restrict advertisers targeting minors on its social media platforms, especially Facebook and Instagram.
The decision of the company, which is managed by Mark Zuckerberg, came after many criticisms of the company in this regard.
The company indicated, in a statement published on its official website, that it confirmed the imposition of more precautionary measures regarding the accounts of minors, and that it also limits the options available to advertisers in targeting this category of accounts.
According to the statement, minors (under 18 years old) are not as ready as adults to make decisions about how data is used through applications, especially when it comes to displaying some ads that may not be appropriate for their age group.
The Company limits the options available to advertisers to reach minors, as well as the information it uses to display ads to minors.
Meta will add more control options for minors’ accounts to help them understand how ads work, and the reasons why they see certain ads in their accounts, unlike other accounts.
Starting from the beginning of next month, advertisers will be able to use age and location only to reach minors, which means that advertisers will not be able to reach their ads to minors by specifying their “gender” as a targeting option.
Minors will also be able to select the ad options they prefer not to see, and parents can directly control the types of ads to be seen by their children.
According to the company’s statement, this service will be available on both Facebook and Instagram during February 2023, and among the options that the company is working to remove as well:
Starting in March 2023, minors will have more ways to manage the types of ads they see on Facebook and Instagram using subject controls, expanding on what’s already available.
Minors can access the details of ad control through their account settings, then choose ‘View less or no offers’; To ensure more control over the types of ads they can see.
According to the same statement, Meta’s advertising standards prohibit both alcoholic beverages and financial products or weight-loss services for persons under the age of 18.
In the event that a minor wants to access advertisements for a specific TV program or sporting events, for example, he must specify his options in order for the matter to be processed.
Meta will give minors more control over the types of ads they see, as they can decide which topics they don’t want to see ads for, while preventing them from choosing any category outside their age range.
And the statement indicated that the company will add a new privacy page that contains more information for minors, in addition to the tools and privacy settings that they can use.
