Advertisers face fewer manual targeting options as Meta pushes AI tools

Meta is moving ahead with its plan to reduce manual ad targeting on its platforms, as it pushes advertisers towards broader, AI-driven campaign management.

The company has begun notifying advertisers through Ads Manager that additional detailed targeting options will be removed or consolidated. The changes are set to take effect from 15 January 2026, after which any ad sets using the discontinued criteria will stop delivering.

Meta has gradually pared back detailed targeting since early 2024, citing limited use, excessive granularity, or links to sensitive topics as reasons for removal. The company has framed the changes as a way to improve overall ad performance by enabling its automated systems to determine the most relevant audiences.

In its August 2025 update, Meta expanded the consolidation of targeting options, continuing a trend that began last year. The company says that broader targeting gives its machine-learning models more flexibility to optimise delivery.

Meta advertising specialist Jon Loomer wrote that he “generally recommend[s] deprioritising interests and behaviours anyway,” describing reliance on such inputs as “a targeting myth.” He argued that Meta’s automated targeting process is increasingly capable of identifying suitable audiences without manual input.

In its second-quarter earnings report, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg attributed advertising gains to improvements in its AI recommendation model. “The strong performance this quarter is largely thanks to AI unlocking greater efficiency and gains across our ads system,” he said. Zuckerberg added that the new model had driven “roughly 5% more ad conversions on Instagram and 3% on Facebook.”

According to Meta, testing has shown that removing detailed targeting exclusions reduced the median cost per conversion by 22.6%. The company has also promoted its Advantage+ tools, which rely heavily on automation, as part of this shift.

The changes reflect Meta’s long-term goal of automating ad creation and delivery, using data from advertisers’ websites, products, and page audiences to match promotions to users across its platforms.

Advertisers can review the specific targeting options scheduled for removal in Meta Ads Manager.