California : Meta has announced a major update that will soon impact how users experience Facebook and its other platforms. Beginning December 16, 2025, conversations held with Meta’s AI Assistant will be used to display personalized ads and content recommendations across its platforms.
This means that if a user chats with the AI assistant about topics like hiking, Meta will interpret that interest and begin showing related ads, posts, Reels, and groups on Facebook. The company explained that this system will work similarly to how liking a page or frequently engaging with specific content currently influences the platform’s algorithm.
Meta has assured users that AI chats will not be used to target ads related to sensitive subjects such as religion, politics, health, or race. According to Kristie Harris, Meta’s Chief Privacy Officer, user privacy policies will remain in place and be carefully respected throughout the transition.
Users will still have the ability to manage and modify their ad preferences through their account settings. However, it won’t be possible to completely prevent AI chat data from being used for ad targeting. Furthermore, if a user has linked their Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp accounts via the Meta Accounts Center, their AI chat activity on one platform could influence recommendations on the others.
It’s important to note that encrypted conversations on WhatsApp and Messenger are not affected by this change.
Meta plans to begin notifying users from October 7, ahead of the official policy rollout in December. The new update will apply to most countries globally, but will not be enforced in the United Kingdom, European Union, or South Korea due to stricter data and privacy regulations.
