The Facebook Special Ad Category is a classification for ads that link to housing, credit, or job opportunities. If your ad falls under this classification, Facebook will limit the audience targeting options you have available and prevent you from creating a target audience based on age, gender, or zip code.
According to Facebook, these three types of ads were chosen because of the long-running history of discrimination in the housing, credit, and employment areas and because of the importance that a person be able to get a job, have a place to live, and have access to credit.
Housing
Knowing that real estate developers might discriminate by location, Facebook put ads that promote or link directly to housing opportunities or related benefits into their Special Ad Category. Affected ads include the following:
- Sale or rental opportunities for houses, condos, apartments, or other types of housing
- Homeowners or mortgage insurance opportunities
- Housing loan ads
- Home equity or appraisal services
- Housing repair services
If your ad is designed to educate people about their rights and responsibilities with regard to fair housing practices, your ad does not fall into the Facebook Special Ad Category. You can use the Equal Housing Opportunity logo as part of your ad to differentiate it from other types of housing ads.
Credit
Any ad promoting or directly linking to a credit opportunity or related service falls under the Facebook Special Ad Category. Credit opportunity ads include the following:
- All credit card ads, regardless of whether they include a specific offer
- Mortgage loan or refinancing offers
- Personal, business, or auto loan service ads
Employment
The final special ad category classification is employment—ads that link to or describe job opportunities, including the following:
- Full- or part-time jobs
- Internships
- Professional certificate programs
- Ads for job boards or job fairs
- Ads describing the benefits of working at a particular company, even if it is not a specific job offer
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