How Does Meta Ad Targeting for Teens Differ by Country?

Meta limits what you can use when your audience includes teens, and that applies worldwide. What depends on the place is the age that counts as a teen and whether teens can be reached at all: Meta says ads with locations in the EU, the EEA or Switzerland cannot deliver to people under 18. This entry is as checked on 2 Oct 2026. It is not legal advice, so check the linked pages for your situation.

What does not change by country?

The list of removed options is worldwide. Meta says these audience options are not available to show ads to teens:

• Gender.
• Zip codes or locations smaller than cities, such as a custom radius or pin drop.
• Detailed targeting (interests, behaviors and demographics).
• Language.
• Website, mobile app, customer list, engagement and offline activity custom audiences.
• Lookalike audiences.

Some campaign options go too: Advantage+ catalog ads, several optimization goals (including video views, post engagement, landing page views, leads and conversations) and certain placements. Meta says target frequency is out, but a frequency cap is still allowed. Advantage+ app campaigns cannot be used to reach teens.

If your plan depends on detailed targeting or a lookalike, split the teen audience into its own ad set with allowed options only.

What changes by place?

Question	What Meta says
Minimum age	13 on Facebook and Instagram, so all ads target people at least 13. In some jurisdictions the limit is higher; Meta’s example is 16 in Australia.
Who counts as a teen	In the context of its teen ad changes, Meta says teens means 13 to 17 in most countries, 13 to 19 in Thailand and 13 to 20 in Indonesia.
EU, EEA, Switzerland	Ads with locations there cannot deliver to audiences under 18, since November 2023. They keep delivering to people 18 or over.

Before you add a country, check which age band Meta applies there.

What happens to an ad that uses a removed option?

Meta says campaigns targeting teens can be paused when they use targeting or campaign options that are no longer available. For the EU, EEA and Switzerland, delivery to teens stopped automatically from the week of 6 November 2023, and Meta says advertisers did not need to take action.

Meta suggests fixing a paused ad by deleting it and creating a new one, or by changing the audience:

• Set gender to “all” if you targeted teens by gender.
• Use a city-level or broader location if you used postal codes.
• Reach adults only, or build two ads, one for teens with allowed options and one for adults.

Can teens run ads themselves?

In the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, Meta says the pause also limits what under-18 users can do. It lists running ads or boosting posts for an Instagram account, running ads or boosting posts for their Facebook profile, running ads for a Page linked to an under-18 Instagram account, and joining partnership ads. Under-18 users can still boost posts or run ads for a Page that is not linked to an under-18 Instagram account.

FAQ

Can I target 13 to 17-year-olds in Europe?

Not in the EU, the EEA or Switzerland. Meta says ads with locations in those places cannot deliver to audiences under 18, and that they continue to reach people 18 or over. Set your age range to 18 or older there, and check Meta’s page for the latest status.

Which teen options are still allowed?

Meta says you can still reach teens with targeting by age, broad location and other allowed campaign options. Its list of still-available goals includes impressions, reach, link clicks and offsite conversions, and its placements include Facebook feed, Instagram feed, stories and reels.

Does the age limit change by country?

Yes. Meta says the minimum age on Facebook and Instagram is 13 and may be higher in some jurisdictions, giving Australia as an example at 16. It also says teens means 13 to 19 in Thailand and 13 to 20 in Indonesia for these changes.