Privacy
What Meta's health data restrictions mean for health and wellness advertisers
On September 2, 2025, Meta began keeping audiences and conversions that hint at a health condition out of new campaigns. For clinics and wellness brands, a falling count in Ads Manager often means Meta stopped accepting the data, not that customers stopped coming.
What reaches Meta at each level of restriction
| Page views | Full page address | Custom parameters | Lower funnel events | Any events | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No restriction | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Core setup | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Certain standard events | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ◐ | ✓ |
| Full restriction | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
✓ yes ◐ partly or on some plans ✕ not found
In short
- Meta's "Health and wellness" category covers provider and patient relationships and health-related products.1 Most clinics fit it.
- There are three levels of restriction, from trimming web addresses to blocking every event.2
- The rules cover the Conversions API and offline data too. Moving tracking to a server doesn't get around them.5
- Since September 2, 2025, audiences and custom conversions that suggest a health condition can't be used in new campaigns.7
Meta decides your category, not you
Meta sorts websites, apps and offline sources into data source categories. Its health and wellness definition includes "provider/patient relationships" and "health-related products and services".1 A dental group, a physio practice or a hearing clinic fits that wording on its face.
Some businesses sit in a grey zone. A Meta memo reported by Marketing Brew in December 2024 suggested medical Botox may be restricted while cosmetic Botox may not.8 You can categorise your own sources and ask for a review. You can't overwrite a category Meta assigned.1
Meta won't list the blocked events
Under the middle level, Meta restricts "specific mid and lower funnel events" and doesn't publish which ones.2 Under any level, custom events stay blocked until someone reviews them in Events Manager, and core setup strips web addresses down to the domain.3
Meta says restrictions can apply to certain regions or globally.2 It hasn't published how Canada is treated. The only reliable answer for a given account is in its own Events Manager.
Offline data has a seven-day clock
Meta discontinued its Offline Conversions API in May 2025. Bookings, visits and sales now go through the Conversions API, and each event can be at most seven days old when it arrives.6 Anything still pointed at the old API has sent nothing since.
Two signs is enough to stop trusting the count
- Emails saying "potentially prohibited information" was removed.4
- "Event parameters blocked" in Events Manager diagnostics.
- A category or core setup shown in the dataset settings.1
- Standard events, like Purchase or Lead, that can't be chosen as an optimisation goal.
- Audiences that shrink or stop updating.
If two or more of these show up, we'd read Meta's conversion numbers as a floor, not a count. Then measure Meta from your own sales data, which Meta can't trim.
The workaround we won't use
Some vendors rename purchases and bookings as coded custom events so Meta can't tell what they are. Meta's terms say event names must not "reflect, imply or be based on" health information, and Meta can block such events.5
The trade-off is real. Honest event names may mean weaker optimisation inside Meta. We still recommend them, because a blocked event can stay blocked, and the ad account is worth more than one campaign's signal.
For how this plays out on booking pages more broadly, see our research on tracking pixels.
How this shapes our work
- Bridge measures Meta from outside Meta, joining spend and clicks to sales in the business's own systems.
- Every audit starts by reading each account's restriction status, so a gap is explained before anyone cuts a budget over it.
- Bridge never sends treatment, provider or condition words to Meta. The list of forbidden fields is enforced in code.
- We don't disguise health data to get around Meta's rules.
Questions
Does the Conversions API avoid these restrictions?
No. Meta's Business Tools Terms name the pixel, the Conversions API and offline conversions, and the same health rules apply to all of them.5
Can I get my category changed?
You can request a review in Events Manager. You can't edit a category Meta assigned.1
Are Canadian advertisers treated the same as US ones?
Meta hasn't published this. Check the dataset settings and diagnostics in your own Events Manager.
Sources
- About data source categoriesMeta Business Help · Read Nov 4, 2026
- Data sharing restrictions based on data source categoriesMeta Business Help · Read Nov 4, 2026
- About core setupMeta Business Help · Read Nov 4, 2026
- About prohibited informationMeta Business Help · Read Nov 4, 2026
- Meta Business Tools TermsMeta · Read Nov 4, 2026
- Offline events in the Conversions APIMeta for Developers · Read Nov 4, 2026
- Conversion tracking and flagged custom conversionsMeta for Developers · Read Nov 4, 2026
- Meta plans crackdown on health-related user dataMarketing Brew · Dec 9, 2024
Meta's pages were read on Nov 4, 2026. Details reported only by press are labelled as reported. This is general information, not legal advice.
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Bridge traces every number to a real booking or sale, and watches for changes like these.