About TikTok advertising restrictions for people under the age of 18

Last updated: February 2026

Some targeting and campaign options are not available when you create ad campaigns including audiences under the age of 18 in certain locations. These changes are part of our overall efforts to strengthen the privacy and safety of younger users across our platforms. The below restrictions are in addition to the full list of Protecting minors on TikTok: advertising initiatives.


Please note: In Australia, due to local legislation, ads will not be shown or targeted to audiences under the age of 16 in Australia.

Impacted Locations

Ad campaigns targeting the following locations will have limited targeting options when people under the age of 18 are included in the audience.

  • USA

  • Latin America

  • The European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the UK

  • Canada

Targeting Restrictions

The following detailed targeting options will not be available when your audience includes people under the age of 18:

  • Gender

  • Spending power

  • Household income

  • Audience

  • Interests & behaviors

The following targeting options will continue to be available when your audience includes people under the age of 18:

  • Age

  • Language

  • Location (except zipcode)

  • Device

  • Search keywords (only for USA)


For advertisers whose primary objective is to reach audiences under the age of 18, we encourage them to use awareness-focused campaign types such as Auction Reach, Reach & Frequency, Topview that do not rely on detailed targeting.

Mixed-age targeting and delivery restrictions

Selecting age ranges that include 13–17 (e.g., All/No Limit, or 13–17 and an 18+ age range) enables detailed targeting selection in the UI, while the 13–17 targeting continues to follow back-end restrictions (above). Selecting detailed targeting for mixed age set-ups does not relax U18 policies because the system applies detailed targeting only to eligible ages/regions and automatically limits or blocks the 13–17 portion per regional policy & back-end restrictions.

Campaign options restrictions

The following advertising objectives will not be available when reaching people under the age of 18:

  • Lead Generation

  • Sales - TikTok Shop

Advertising in Australia: Ad delivery restriction

Due to local legislation, people under the age of 16 in Australia cannot use TikTok. Therefore, ads will not be delivered to audiences under 16, regardless of your targeting settings. For those aged 16-17, the standard under-18 targeting limitations listed above still apply.