We’ve discussed how Facebook’s mega presence on social media makes it a convenient and effective way to advertise. For now, that remains true. However, changes are coming in Apple’s iOS 14 that will significantly alter how straightforward advertising on Facebook is to do. Right now, a program called Facebook Pixel reports to Facebook when a user buys something after clicking on an ad for it. This helps advertisers in a few ways. The first is that they can plainly see how effective their Facebook advertisements are at bringing in direct business, a fairly straightforward yet helpful bit of information. However, Facebook Pixel can also help advertisers target new clients, by grouping them together based on things they’ve bought in the past. This data is how Facebook knows who to advertise to when you set a Facebook ad to target, “women over 30,” or, “people interested in current events,” for example. They determine a lot of this grouping based on Facebook Pixel information, and it leads to fairly effective and straightforward advertising.

Apple’s new iOS 14 is going to change this. Apple has recommitted to certain data privacy enhancements that are meant to protect users’ information from being constantly mined for advertising purposes. In this new update, iOS users will be able to opt out of tracking, meaning that Facebook Pixel will be unable to send information back about purchases and demographics. This may severely limit an advertiser’s ability to target specialized groups. This can also severely sway statistical data about advertising, as some people will still be able to opt in to tracking. The discrepancy between the two groups will likely lead to misfired ad attempts by Facebook, and a dip in the efficacy of Facebook ads in general.

In response, Facebook has developed a system called Aggregated Event Measurement. This is a way to collect general information about Facebook users without dipping into information protected by the iOS update. This tactic is still very much in development, so not a lot is known about how it will play out for advertisers. We do know that there are 8 conversion events that are currently measurable under the restrictions, and by prioritizing these events you can maximize the potential of ads under the new system.

Essentially, Facebook is responding to Apple’s privacy protections by finding criteria that may define a group without actually mining their data for information. These eight Aggregated Event Measurements are predetermined by Facebook, and their algorithm prioritizes them for you based on your business and past client bases. However, you have the ultimate control over these measurements. At any time, you can reorder the eight events to prioritize groups that you believe fit into your company’s desired demographic.

This new system is great for people who wish to maintain autonomy online, but for advertisers, it generally means that the audience you can reach on Facebook will be less specific, and depending on your product, the ads may be less effective. If you have a particular niche product, you may want to consider a different mode of advertisement or altering your Facebook ad to appeal to a more general audience.

Do remember that this update is coming from Apple. This means that the portion of the world that doesn’t use iPhones or iPads will be generally unaffected. Though other companies may have their own identity protection plans, this particular update is only available to Apple users. However, it’s worth noting that this update could have wider ramifications than just Facebook. If other sites rely on privacy infringement to target ads, there may be hiccups in advertising with them as well. Now would be a great time to seek out a Facebook ad agency to guide you through the changes and keep your ads afloat.