Facebook and Instagram will change the way firms can target ads at teenagers so they are more “age-appropriate”, the social media sites’ parent company has announced.

From February, advertisers will no longer be able to see a user’s gender to know what type of post a user has engaged with as a way of targeting adverts.

Companies advertising on the social networking sites will only be able to see a user’s age and location.

From March, Meta said that teenage users will have access to other privacy options, including the ability to choose the option to see less of certain types of adverts.

“As part of our continued work to keep our apps age-appropriate for teens, we’re making further changes to their ad experiences,” said Meta. “We recognise that teens aren’t necessarily as equipped as adults to make decisions about how their online data is used for advertising, particularly when it comes to showing them products available to purchase.”

This follows the news that Meta was fined €390 million for breaking EU data rules. The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) said that the way the company asked permission to use data for adverts on its websites was unlawful.

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