Meta will use your chat data with AI to personalize ads and content on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp

Meta will use your chat data with AI to personalize ads and content on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp

Meta – the social media giant with nearly 98% of its revenue coming from advertising – has just announced an important change: from December 16, 2025, the company will start mining data from conversations between users and Meta AI to personalize ads and content recommendations across the entire ecosystem.

Personalized advertising based on conversational content with AI

According to the announcement, any conversation or interaction with Meta AI – whether text or voice – can be used as a signal to show relevant posts, Reels, ads, and groups across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.
For example, if you chat with Meta AI about 'rock climbing,' the system may suggest rock climbing groups, related posts, or ads for rock climbing gear, in addition to traditional signals like page likes or follows.

Meta AI now has over 1 billion monthly users, and the company wants to leverage its generative AI technology to more closely integrate with its core advertising business. Meta is even said to have negotiated with Google to integrate some of its Gemini AI technology into its advertising system.

Privacy and sensitive data issues

Meta asserts that certain sensitive topics will not be used for ad targeting, including religious views, sexual orientation, politics, medical conditions, race, ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership.

It's worth noting, however, that WhatsApp still maintains end-to-end encryption, so chats on the app aren't exploited for ads. Meanwhile, Messenger and Instagram don't have this layer of protection, meaning chat content can be used to optimize ad display.

AI-powered personalization will only link data between Meta apps when accounts are synced via Accounts Center. Users can:

1. Customize Ads Preferences to limit the types of ads that appear.
2. Adjust Feed Controls to change the suggested content on your feed.
3. Opt out of cross-platform data sharing.

Meta's new move is expected to increase engagement and advertising revenue, but also raises many concerns about user privacy.

Lesley Montoya

Update 03 October 2025