Get ready to see more targeted ads on Facebook

Advertising is how Meta makes money, hence Facebook users being bombarded with ads and “recommended content”. Starting today you may receive a notification that things are about to change. Unsurprisingly, they are not changing for the better.

Meta says that it is going to “start personalizing content and ad recommendations on our platforms based on people’s interactions with our generative AI features”. What does this mean? Targeted ads, essentially.

While the idea of advertising that is thought to be relevant to you will be seen by some as being better than generic or irrelevant advertising, there will be plenty of others who are unhappy with this. And with Meta’s latest announcement being firmly linked to AI, more people are likely to be a little wary of what is going on.

Meta released information about that changes a few days ago, saying:

More than 1 billion people use Meta AI every month. We’re continuing to improve the way our AI products feel relevant to you, understand your goals, and help you accomplish tasks more efficiently. 

We’re also using Meta AI, and our other AI features, to improve your experience on all of our platforms. We will soon use your interactions with AI at Meta to personalize the content and ads you see, including things like posts and reels. We’ll start notifying people about this update next week via notifications and emails, several weeks before it goes into effect on December 16, 2025.

Meta is pitching this all as an evolution of what has been going on for years, saying that artificial intelligence is simply making it possible to make better recommendation to users:

Your interactions with content on Facebook and Instagram have long shaped what appears in your feed. Just like other personalized services, we tailor the ads and content you see based on your activity, ensuring that your experience evolves as your interests change. Many people expect their interactions to make what they see more relevant. Soon, interactions with AIs will be another signal we use to improve people’s experience.

Whether it’s a voice chat or a text exchange with our AI features, this update will help us improve the recommendations we provide for people across our platforms so they’re more likely to see content they’re actually interested in — and less of the content they’re not. For example, if you chat with Meta AI about hiking, we may learn that you’re interested in hiking — just as we would if you posted a reel about hiking or liked a hiking-related Page. As a result, you might start seeing recommendations for hiking groups, posts from friends about trails, or ads for hiking boots.

The company stresses that users are in control of what they see:

• With tools like Ads Preferences and other feed controls, you can adjust the content and ads you see at any time. 
• Additionally, you can choose how you interact with AIs, either with your voice for hands-free convenience or via text. If you use your voice, you’ll see an indicator light that the microphone is in use. We don’t use your microphone unless you’ve given us permission and are actively using a feature that requires the microphone. 
• When people have conversations with Meta AI about topics such as their religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, as always, we don’t use those topics to show them ads.
• We use information, including interactions with Meta AI, across Meta Company Products from the accounts that you choose to add to the same Accounts Center. This means, for example, that if you have not added your WhatsApp account to an Accounts Center, interactions with Meta AI on WhatsApp will not be used to personalize experiences across different accounts on Meta Company Products.

What this looks like in the real world remains to be seen.

Image credit: jovannig / depositphotos