Ad targeting

For Instagram ad targeting, Meta’s Newsroom gives basketball as an example of an interest an advertiser might select when choosing an audience1. A Meta patent describes advertiser-selected conditions that identify potential recipients through profile information, actions or connections with other people or items in a social networking system6.

For Instagram ad targeting, Mosseri explained in October 2025 that advertisers can share information about website visitors, giving the example of someone viewing a product and that advertiser paying to reach the person with an ad5. Instagram’s Help Center connects this kind of personalization to a control called “Activity from other businesses,” which lets people adjust how ads are shown using that information3. In November 2024, Meta’s Newsroom explained that the less personalized advertising option for Facebook and Instagram in Europe uses drastically reduced data and can produce ads that are less relevant to a person’s interests7.

Meta’s research distinguishes ad targeting from actual delivery: its paper describes a system that selects ads for only part of the eligible audience when opportunities arise to show them on Facebook or Instagram2. Meta’s research compares the demographic makeup of that eligible audience with the makeup of the people who actually receive ad impressions, meaning instances of an ad being shown2. Meta’s research proposes adjusting which ads are selected to bring those demographic patterns closer together, aiming to reduce unintended differences in delivery across protected groups while preserving individual privacy2.