Meta Restrictions on Sensitive Audiences and Conversions

Meta automatically screens custom audiences and custom conversions for information it does not allow advertisers to use. If one of yours is flagged, it is blocked from new campaigns, and existing campaigns that rely on it can slowly lose delivery.

What gets flagged

Names, rules or data that suggest sensitive personal details. Typical examples are specific health conditions and financial status, such as an audience called "diabetes patients" or a conversion named "high income lead". Even a label can trigger the check, so keep naming neutral and descriptive of your offer, not of the person.

What happens when something is flagged

• Custom audiences: cannot be selected for new campaigns, and no new people are added. Running campaigns may see weaker delivery.
• Conversions: stop matching, so linked campaigns stop receiving fresh conversion data and optimization suffers.
• Meta does not pause running campaigns itself, and Ad Manager will not necessarily show an error.

How to resolve it

Custom audiences

1. Review the source data and remove anything non-permitted.
2. Build a new audience, or pick a different compliant one, in Marketing > Ad Manager > Settings > Audiences.
3. For lookalikes, fix the source audience or create a fresh lookalike.
4. If you think the flag is wrong, request a review from Meta's Audience Manager.

Conversions

1. Create a new compliant conversion for future campaigns.
2. For a campaign that is already published, clone it in Ad Manager and select the new conversion, because a published campaign cannot swap its conversion.
3. Request a review from Meta if you believe the flag is a mistake.

Good to know: Rename risky-sounding audiences and events before building campaigns, because renaming is easier than rebuilding a live campaign.