Meta’s New Health & Wellness Ads Restrictions

Intro

Health and Wellness advertisers are facing new challenges with Meta’s latest data restrictions. Starting in January 2025, Meta introduced significant restrictions affecting how brands in the health and wellness industry can share data with its advertising platform. These updates are set to impact data-sharing practices, particularly for businesses operating in regulated sectors. The platform no longer allows sharing of key customer data, such as purchases or items added to carts, making audience targeting, retargeting, and broader performance marketing strategies—especially those driving sales—much more difficult.

Here’s what you need to know about the changes, the challenges they bring, and how to adapt.

Background

It all seems to boil down to one key issue: the healthcare sector cannot share PHI (Protected Health Information) with Meta. In the U.S., this is due to Meta not offering a BAA (Business Associate Agreement) and not being HIPAA-compliant (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). While HIPAA governs this in the U.S., GDPR serves as the equivalent regulation in Europe.

Key Impact Areas

Stricter data sharing restrictions will impact health and wellness brands, limiting how they track user interactions and optimize ad campaigns. The inability to collect and leverage customer data will significantly affect key areas of digital marketing and overall sales performance:

• Weakened Ad Optimization:
  Mid-funnel and lower-funnel conversion tracking, including events like “Add to Cart” and “Purchase”, will be particularly affected. The lack of insights from these events means that optimization algorithms have less data to work with. This challenge impacts customer acquisition and sales growth, and overall performance marketing efforts.
  
  
• Limited Retargeting:
  Without access to past customer behavior data, creating effective retargeting campaigns becomes challenging, potentially leading to lower customer retention and reduced lifetime value per customer.
  
  
• Challenges in Measuring ROI:
  Without detailed tracking of the customer journey, accurately measuring the return on investment (ROI) for specific campaigns becomes more difficult, impacting budget allocation and future strategic decisions.
  
  
• Regional Variations:
  Regulations will vary by region, with some areas, especially in the EU, potentially facing complete tracking limitations, making compliance even more complex for global brands.

What should you do to adapt to Metas new rules?

1. Review Your Classification In Meta’s Business Manager

• Go to Meta Events Manager and navigate to Data Sources > Settings > Manage Data Source Categories. Look for the “Health & Wellness” flag. If your account is flagged, it may limit your ability to advertise effectively on Meta.

• If your business has been mistakenly classified as Health & Wellness, submit a review through Meta’s Events Manager. Double-check your ad copy and website messaging to ensure they don’t unintentionally trigger Meta’s restrictions on sensitive content.

2. Audit your website content

• Make sure your website content follows Meta’s compliance guidelines to prevent unwanted flagging. Ensure your content is factual and compliant, removing any exaggerated health claims or cure-related language that could trigger Meta’s AI restrictions.

3. Modify conversion tracking by implementing custom event

• Some advertisers are bypassing these restrictions by implementing custom events, though this approach technically violates Meta’s policies. It’s unclear how strictly Meta will enforce this, but the risk remains. If you decide to test custom events, monitor performance closely and be prepared to pivot quickly if Meta tightens its enforcement.

• Instead of standard events like “Purchase”, use neutral alternatives like “Target01”.

4. Adjust Your Optimization Strategy

• Consider building backup optimization strategies using upper-funnel events. Refocus campaign optimization to events like “ViewContent”, “Search”, or “Lead” to maintain data collection and performance.

5. Filter and Control Your Data Before Sharing - Adopt Server-Side tracking

• Server-Side GTM gives you greater control to modify and delete data before it is sent to Meta’s systems.

• Server-Side GTM and CAPI also allow you to remove the Meta Pixel from your website, enhancing data privacy and ensuring compliance.

Final thoughts

Meta’s updated restrictions on health and wellness ads introduce new challenges for advertisers, particularly those relying on lower-funnel events. While these limitations make conversion tracking more difficult, businesses can still optimize performance by adjusting their optimization strategies and refining their website content. There are some potential workarounds for maintaining conversion tracking, but it’s wise to start preparing for a future where only upper-funnel metrics such as impressions and clicks are available for optimization.

Staying ahead requires a proactive approach. Reviewing website content, testing alternative optimization events, and planning for a revised strategy. However, the full impact of these changes remains uncertain, making it crucial to stay agile and adaptable.

If you have any questions or need assistance with your tracking, don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].