Limitations on custom and lookalike audiences

There are some limitations to custom and lookalike audiences related to health and finance that you should be aware of.

Here’s what you need to know…

limit

While looking at Meta’s developer documentation on Lookalike Audiences, I stumbled upon the following message:

Starting September 2, 2025, we will begin implementing more proactive restrictions on Custom Audiences that may suggest information not allowed by our terms. For example, any custom audience or lookalike audience that suggests a specific health condition (e.g. “arthritis,” “diabetes”) or financial status (e.g., “credit score,” “high income”) will be flagged and blocked from being used to run ad campaigns.

The rule goes into effect on September 2nd, so it flies under the radar (or at least my radar). If a custom audience is tagged with Meta, you won’t be able to create lookalike audiences based on it. And you can’t use either one in positioning.

Can you get around it?

I’m not sure how Meta accurately labels these audiences. But I think it needs to be based on how you name it or the title row in your custom audience.

Of course, I’m not suggesting that you get around restrictions by naming these things carefully. Even if this is how your audience is marked, one of the worst violations you can face is “circumventing the system.”

This will definitely qualify and the account may be banned.