Targeting description

Updated: Nov 7, 2025

Get human-readable descriptions for a set of targeting specs. To read targeting descriptions for specific ads make an HTTP GET to https://graph.facebook.com/{AD_ID}/targetingsentencelines.

Targeting description for existing ads

To get targetingsentencelines connection of an existing ad:

curl -G \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/<AD_ID>/targetingsentencelines

The response:

{
    "id": "<AD_ID>/targetingsentencelines",
    "targetingsentencelines": [
    {
        "content": "Location - Living In:",
        "children": [
            "Japan",
            "United States"
        ]
    },
    {
        "content": "Age:",
        "children": [
            "20 - 24"
        ]
    },
    {
        "content": "Gender:",
        "children": [
            "Male"
        ]
    }]
}

Responses contain these fields:

Name	Description
`id` type: string	ID of `targetingsentencelines`.
`targetingsentencelines` type: array of JSON objects	Human-readable description of the targeting spec. Each object contains `content` or targeting type, and `children` or targeting spec. This field only takes effective placements into consideration.

Targeting description for ad accounts

You can also get targeting descriptions for a targeting spec with an HTTP GET for an ads account at https://graph.facebook.com/{AD_ACCOUNT_ID}/targetingsentencelines.

For example, to get targeting descriptions for people who live in the US or Japan and are males between the age of 20-24:

curl -G \
  --data-urlencode 'targeting_spec={
    "age_max": 24,
    "age_min": 20,
    "genders": [1],
    "geo_locations": {"countries":["US","JP"]}
  }' \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/targetingsentencelines

Response:

{
    "params": {
        "genders": [1],
        "age_min": 20,
        "age_max": 24,
        "geo_locations": {
            "countries": [
                "US",
                "JP"
            ]
        }
    },
    "targetingsentencelines": [{
        "content": "Location - Living In:",
        "children": [
            "Japan",
            "United States"
        ]
    }, {
        "content": "Age:",
        "children": [
            "20 - 24"
        ]
    }, {
        "content": "Gender:",
        "children": [
            "Male"
        ]
    }]
}

Additional parameters include:

Name	Description
`targeting_spec` type: JSON object	Required. Get the targeting description for this targeting spec.
`hide_targeting_spec_from_return` type: bool	Optional. Whether response has requested `targeting_spec` included. Default `false`.

Responses have these fields:

Name	Description
`targetingsentencelines` type: array of JSON objects	The human-readable description of targeting spec. Each object has `content` or targeting type and `children` or targeting spec.
`params` type: JSON object	The targeting spec you provided.