Meta is rolling out an update to account-wide audience controls that are defined in your Ad Account Settings.

When creating an ad set, I see a message in the Audience ControlsAdvertisers aren’t able to exclude locations or customize age targeting from directly within the ad set of an Advantage+ Shopping Campaign. But Audience Controls within the Ad Account Settings allow the ability to make these adjustments account-wide for all Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns. More section for Advantage+ Audience:

“The audienceThis is the group of people who can potentially see your ads. You help influence this by adjusting age, gender, location, detailed targeting (interests and behaviors), custom audiences, and more. More controls set in your ad account settings will apply to this ad set.”

That’s interesting since the controls set in Ad Account Settings previously only applied to Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns. But this appears to be changing.

Ad Account Settings

I’m seeing this message in the account-level controls in Ad Account Settings:

“Audience controls apply to all campaignsThe campaign is the foundation of your Facebook ad. This is where you’ll set an advertising objective, which defines what you want your ad to achieve. More for this ad account (except Advantage+ App Campaigns).”

That’s right. “ALL.”

If you’re not familiar with these options, Audience controls are location and minimum age restrictions. Once you define them in the ad account, they will apply to all of your ad setsAn ad set is a Facebook ads grouping where settings like targeting, scheduling, optimization, and placement are determined. More.

If you can only advertise in specific locations, you can add or exclude locations account wide. You can also set a minimum age if your business advertises age-restricted goods or services.

Ad Set Restrictions

If you do make adjustments here, you won’t be able to override these restrictions when creating your ad set. Any location outside of your restrictions or ages below your minimum will be grayed out.

An example when trying to select a location outside of the ad account Audience Controls…

And age…

It doesn’t matter whether you’re using Advantage+ AudienceMeta’s AI-powered targeting option. Meta will attempt to find your audience for you based on pixel activity, conversion history, and ad engagement. You can also provide targeting suggestions that Meta will initially prioritize before going broader. More or original audiences. You will not be able to get around Audience Controls defined in your Ad Account Settings.

Use With Caution

Most businesses shouldn’t need this feature, so please don’t limit your audience account-wide unnecessarily. It’s only for situations where you simply cannot serve people (sell or ship) in certain locations or under a certain age.

It’s inevitable that some advertisers will use this to profile their “ideal” customers, but it’s not advised.