Advertisers are prohibited from using Meta's targeting tools to discriminate against users based on sensitive personal characteristics like race, religion, disability, or sexual orientation.
This analysis describes what Meta Ads's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
This provision establishes operational boundaries for the advertising platform by restricting how targeting capabilities can be deployed. It creates an enforceable standard that determines which audience segmentation parameters advertisers may access and apply when constructing campaigns on Meta's systems.
While this clause prohibits discriminatory ad targeting using characteristics like race, religion, and disability, consumers have limited visibility into whether their inferred sensitive-category data is being used in compliant ways, as Meta's targeting parameters are not fully disclosed to users.
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The prohibited and restricted business categories may vary by country. Users should refer to the country-specific pages for the applicable prohibited and restricted business lists in their jurisdiction.
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"Ads must not use targeting options to discriminate against people based on personal attributes such as race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, family status, disability, medical or genetic condition. Advertisers must not use targeting options to single out people with sensitive personal characteristics for discriminatory purposes.— Excerpt from Meta Ads's Meta Advertising Policies
1) REGULATORY FRAMEWORK: This provision directly engages GDPR Art. 9 (prohibition on processing special category data without explicit consent), the US Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. §3604) as applied by HUD to digital advertising, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (15 U.S.C. §1691) for financial product ads, the Americans with Disabilities Act for disability-related targeting, and FTC Act Section 5 for discriminatory advertising practices. The Irish DPC has primary GDPR enforcement authority over Meta. 2)
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This provision establishes operational boundaries for the advertising platform by restricting how targeting capabilities can be deployed. It creates an enforceable standard that determines which audience segmentation parameters advertisers may access and apply when constructing campaigns on Meta's systems.
While this clause prohibits discriminatory ad targeting using characteristics like race, religion, and disability, consumers have limited visibility into whether their inferred sensitive-category data is being used in compliant ways, as Meta's targeting parameters are not fully disclosed to users.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Meta Ads.