Meta has announced new changes to how teens will experience advertisements on their platforms. 

New controls will be offered, and certain preferences will automatically be offered for profiles of underaged users. 

Previously, advertisers could not target teens based on their interests and activities, something that Meta has continually fought for the right to do in their terms of service despite lawsuits and GDPR fines. 

From February, advertisers will not be able to use gender as an option to reach teens. Teen engagement with different pages on Facebook and Instagram will also be restricted from advertisers. 

Meta insists that, with the new changes, age and location will be the only information about a teen they will use to show them ads. 

Teens will be able to manage the ads they see on Facebook and Instagram with Ad Topic Controls. This will allow teen users to select topics they wish to see less from advertisers. 

A new privacy page specifically geared towards teens has also been announced, with additional resources about privacy. 

The turn comes after Meta has faced a dramatic defeat in their terms and conditions due to the new GDPR ruling made in Ireland last week, which found Meta noncompliant. 

Meta’s non-compliance was mainly to do with forcing users to consent to personalised and behavioral advertising. 

While these new regulations are a step forward for teenage online safety, Meta will likely have to go even further on enabling ad preferences for all users to stay GDPR compliant if they lose their appeal. 

Despite currently facing a high-court lawsuit, Meta’s new initiative only applies to teens and is not offered to all users, even though complaints are in relation to a lack of control over targeted advertising and the use of personal data. 

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The new policy also comes as the UK government is still deliberating on their Online Safety Bill, which aims to create a safer online environment especially for young people. 

Meta’s policy does give teens more control over advertisements, and the company maintains that age-inappropriate ads – like alcohol, weight-loss supplements, and financial products – are already restricted; it has little to do with the user-generated content government officials are struggling to regulate. 

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