Reach people on WhatsApp whose age is unknown

Updated: Jun 24, 2026

Copy for LLM

Ads in WhatsApp Status are available via the Marketing API. Learn more about ads in WhatsApp Status.

Using this feature is optional and only applies to people using WhatsApp. You can opt out at any time by setting user_age_unknown: false in your ad set targeting spec. Excluding people on WhatsApp whose age is unknown may substantially reduce delivery to people on WhatsApp, some of whom you may want to reach.

WhatsApp’s Terms of Service⁠ require people to be at least 13 years old to register for and use WhatsApp (or older in some countries or territories), but it does not have age information for all people. The user_age_unknown targeting field controls whether these people are included in your ad set’s audience. If you include people on WhatsApp whose age is unknown, we may not have age information for all of the people who may see your ads. Ads delivered to people on WhatsApp whose age is unknown must be suitable for people of all ages. As always, advertisers are required to follow our Advertising Standards⁠.

If the WhatsApp Status placement is included and this field is not set, it defaults to true, meaning people on WhatsApp whose age is unknown are included in your audience.

Overview

Detail	Value
Field name	`user_age_unknown`
Type	Boolean
Default (starting July 2026)	`true`
Applies to	WhatsApp Status placement only
Set at	Ad set level, inside the targeting spec

Behavior

Value	Behavior
`true` (or omitted)	People on WhatsApp whose age is unknown are included in the ad set audience. This is the default starting July 2026.
`false`	People on WhatsApp whose age is unknown are excluded from the ad set audience.

You can opt out at any time by setting this field to false. See People on WhatsApp whose age is unknown⁠ for more information.

Placement requirements

The user_age_unknown field only applies when your ad set targets the WhatsApp Status placement. WhatsApp Status has the following placement requirements:

You must also select the Instagram Story placement (instagram_positions: ["story"]). You cannot select whatsapp_positions: ["status"] by itself.

Request syntax

Set user_age_unknown inside the targeting object when creating or updating an ad set with the POST /act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets endpoint.

curl \
  -F 'name=<AD_SET_NAME>' \
  -F 'optimization_goal=LINK_CLICKS' \
  -F 'billing_event=IMPRESSIONS' \
  -F 'bid_amount=<BID_AMOUNT>' \
  -F 'daily_budget=<DAILY_BUDGET>' \
  -F 'campaign_id=<CAMPAIGN_ID>' \
  -F 'targeting={
    "geo_locations": {"countries": ["<COUNTRY_CODE>"]},
    "publisher_platforms": ["instagram", "whatsapp"],
    "instagram_positions": ["story"],
    "whatsapp_positions": ["status"],
    "user_age_unknown": <TRUE_OR_FALSE>
  }' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v26.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets

Request parameters

Placeholder	Description	Example value
`<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>`	Required. Your ad account ID.	`act_123456789`
`<CAMPAIGN_ID>`	Required. The campaign this ad set belongs to.	`120210987654320123`
`<TRUE_OR_FALSE>`	Optional. Set to `false` to exclude people on WhatsApp whose age is unknown. Defaults to `true`.	`false`

Default behavior with Advantage+ placements

If the WhatsApp Status placement is included and user_age_unknown is not explicitly set, it defaults to true. Your campaigns reach people on WhatsApp whose age is unknown. No action is needed to include these people.

Request

curl -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Summer Sale Adset",
    "campaign_id": "<CAMPAIGN_ID>",
    "billing_event": "IMPRESSIONS",
    "optimization_goal": "LINK_CLICKS",
    "bid_strategy": "LOWEST_COST_WITHOUT_CAP",
    "daily_budget": "2000",
    "status": "PAUSED",
    "targeting": {
      "geo_locations": {
        "countries": ["US"]
      }
    }
  }' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v26.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets

Response

{
  "id": "<AD_SET_ID>"
}

Example request — exclude people on WhatsApp whose age is unknown

Create an ad set for WhatsApp Status that excludes people on WhatsApp whose age is unknown:

curl \
  -F 'name=Summer Sale Adset' \
  -F 'optimization_goal=LINK_CLICKS' \
  -F 'billing_event=IMPRESSIONS' \
  -F 'bid_amount=2' \
  -F 'daily_budget=1000' \
  -F 'campaign_id=120210987654320123' \
  -F 'targeting={
    "geo_locations": {"countries": ["US"]},
    "publisher_platforms": ["instagram", "whatsapp"],
    "instagram_positions": ["story"],
    "whatsapp_positions": ["status"],
    "user_age_unknown": false
  }' \
  -F 'access_token=EAAJB...' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v26.0/act_123456789/adsets