Meta removed placement exclusions and added Threads. How to keep control

What changed

From late August, advertisers started finding that they could no longer exclude placements, platforms, devices or operating systems inside an ad set. Reports say it applies to Sales, Leads, Engagement and App promotion campaigns, and that it is rolling out account by account. Meta has not made a formal announcement.

At the same time, Threads is a default placement. When you run a campaign in Ads Manager you are opted in to ads on Threads.

What still works

The maths of a weak placement

Say an ad set spends ₹1,00,000 in a week (illustrative numbers). ₹85,000 goes to Instagram and Facebook feeds and Reels at ₹600 per purchase, giving about 142 orders. ₹15,000 goes to a weaker placement at ₹1,500 per purchase, giving 10 orders.

Ads Manager shows one blended number: ₹1,00,000 ÷ 152 orders = about ₹659 per purchase. It looks only a little worse than ₹600, so most people never open the breakdown. But the weak placement costs two and a half times as much per order.

A −90% value rule tells Meta that a purchase from that placement is worth a tenth as much to you. Meta will then only win that placement when it’s very cheap. If it still delivers orders at a good cost, it earns its place; if not, spend moves back to what works.

What we do in an account

• Open Breakdown, then By delivery, then Placement, for the last 14 days. Sort by cost per purchase.
• Only act on placements with real spend. A placement with ₹2,000 and no orders hasn’t had a fair test yet.
• Use a value rule before an account-wide block. A block is blunt; a rule lets a placement prove itself when it’s cheap.
• Check that your creative fits each placement. A 1:1 image stretched into Reels or Threads loses more than any bid rule can fix.
• Review again after two weeks, since Meta’s delivery changes as it learns.

Sources we checked

• Jon Loomer and PPC Land, August 2026: ad set placement exclusions removed; value rules capped at −90%.
• Social Media Today: which campaign objectives lost placement controls.
• Meta Business Help Center: Threads ads on by default; Advantage+ placements and the 11.7% figure.
• The worked example is ours and illustrative. It is not a client’s data.