Meta rolls out additional features to protect teens from ads on Facebook, Instagram

Meta Inc on Wednesday updated policies of its apps for them to be age-appropriate for teens, the company said in a blog.

The tech giant has removed the option of identifying the gender of teens from the advertisers' end. This would come into effect from February.

Additionally, the company said that the engagement on its family of apps — like following certain Instagram posts or Facebook pages —  won’t inform the types of ads the teens see.

"Age and location will be the only information about a teen that we’ll use to show them ads. Age and location help us continue to ensure teens see ads that are meant for their age and products and services available where they live," the company added in the blog.

Prior to this, in the same attempt of reducing preying ads reaching teenagers, Meta had made changes to how advertisers can reach teens, which included removing the ability for advertisers to target teens based on their interest and activities.

The company said: "Introducing more teen-specific controls and resources to help them understand how ads work and the reasons why they see certain ads on our apps. These changes reflect research, direct feedback from parents and child developmental experts, UN children’s rights principles, and global regulation.

Starting in March, teens will have more ways to manage the types of ads they see on Facebook and Instagram with Ad Topic Controls, expanding on what’s already available. Teens will be able to go to their ad preferences within settings on both apps, and choose to "See Less" or "No Preference" to further control the types of ads they see.

These changes are the latest effort to build in some after-the-fact privacy protections for Meta’s youngest users. In 2021, Instagram blocked advertisers from targeting teens based on their interests or online activity outside of the app.

This comes after Meta was fined around $400 million for those infractions. At the time, the company said that it planned to appeal and criticised the Irish regulator for punishing the company for its past policies.