By Elizabeth Culliford
(Reuters) -Facebook Inc said on Tuesday it plans to remove detailed ad targeting options that refer to “sensitive” topics, such as ads based on interactions with content around race, health, religious practices, political beliefs or sexual orientation.
The company, which recently changed its name to Meta and which makes the vast majority of its revenue through digital advertising, said the change would take place starting Jan. 19, 2022.
Facebook’s micro-targeting ad options and advertising policies have been under intense scrutiny in recent years.
In a blog post it gave examples of targeting categories that would no longer be allowed, such as “Lung cancer awareness,” “World Diabetes Day”, “LGBT culture”, “Jewish holidays” or political beliefs and social issues.
“We’ve heard concerns from experts that targeting options like these could be used in ways that lead to negative experiences for people in underrepresented groups,” said Graham Mudd, the company’s vice president of product marketing for ads, in the post.
(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru and Elizabeth Culliford in New YorkEditing by Devika Syamnath and Matthew Lewis)
