Let’s Talk

Meta’s Auto-Enabled Features (Why Advertisers Need Regular Audits to Stay in Control)

In recent years, Meta has been steadily shifting its advertising platform toward automation and AI tools. From auto-generated creative tweaks to fully AI-driven ad campaigns, many of these new tools are quietly switched on in the background, sometimes without advertisers realising.

In July, we noticed the rollout of “Optimize Website Destination”, where Meta began deciding which page to send users to rather than always following your set landing page.

This was a high-profile example, but that’s not the only case. Behind the scenes, other AI features are being auto-enabled across Meta products such as Facebook and Instagram. While some of these AI features promise better results, they can also lead to a redefinition of the category of advertising, shifting control from advertisers to algorithms. It can also mean that adverts are going out with content that has not been approved – not a good look for agencies or marketing executives!

Read more: How to Optimise your Website for Google’s AI Overviews

In this post, we’re talking about:

What Auto-Enabled Features Has Meta Rolled Out?

1. Automatic Adjustments in Campaigns

Meta has quietly introduced automatic adjustments in Ads Manager. These can change budgets, pause ad sets, restructure campaigns, or merge new audiences together, all without human input. While this can help Meta’s AI systems optimise for efficiency, advertisers often report sudden shifts in spend or targeting.

For example, a campaign aimed at a specific language group could suddenly be broadened to diverse audiences, diluting the intended messaging.

2. Auto Creative Updates

Meta can now automatically edit your digital content. Features include:

While accessibility is important, many advertisers worry that automated edits may alter the tone of your own voice or overlook important details such as a brand logo or specific promoted product.

3. Reduce Auction Overlap & Audience Fragmentation

Meta’s platform often activates “Reduce Auction Overlap” and “Reduce Audience Fragmentation” by default. These new options attempt to prevent ads from competing against themselves by automatically consolidating ad sets. Helpful in theory, but many advertisers prefer full control of their ad creation process rather than allowing Meta to decide which entire ad or single reel to prioritise.

4. Auto-Detect Offers

A more subtle feature: Meta can now scan your site for discounts or deals and automatically add them to ads. For ecommerce, this could be powerful, but for nonprofit organizations or public accounts, the wrong message may be pushed out if carefully not monitored.

5. Advantage+ Campaigns

Meta’s Advantage+ campaigns are built around generative AI and AI models. They use machine learning to optimise creative, placement, and targeting automatically. Many Facebook users have already seen ads tailored through persona-based text generation that adapts to their preferences.

Read more: Facebook Messaging Campaign Errors: What Can You Do?

For advertisers, this could mean stronger engagement, but it also risks losing control of the tone of your own voice and consistent branding. For ads that need approval before publishing, this can be problematic.

6. Meta AI for Translations and Accessibility

Meta has introduced Meta AI translations, translation tools, and real-time information systems to break down language barriers. New features include:

These updates are significant for Facebook creators and Instagram DMs, who can now reach new languages and diverse audiences seamlessly. But when features like these are auto-enabled, the risk is that translations may not always be accurate translations, or that cultural nuance is lost.

7. AI in Professional Tools

For creators, Professional Mode and the professional dashboard now include auto-enabled insights and suggestions, often powered by AI. Tools like the Reels composer can auto-generate variations of video content and recommend edits. While this helps scale content for new audiences, some Facebook Page managers worry that relying on automation blurs brand identity.

8. Looking Ahead: Full AI Campaigns

According to reports in the Wall Street Journal, by next year and certainly by 2026, Meta plans to let advertisers input just a URL into a Meta AI app and have an AI system generate a fully automated campaign. This will include ad copy, targeting, creative, and even , AI-generated images or translated audio, a full definition of personalised advertising.

Why Does This Matter?

When Meta auto-enables features, advertisers risk:

While Meta frames these new tools as providing better results and deeper connections, they can also lead to mismatched messaging, compliance issues, or wasted spend.

Why might AI features in Meta Ads be a problem?

Beginners to Meta ads can easily be swayed towards using AI features on the promises that Meta makes of bigger and better results. Here’s a very simple example:

My glamping site client has chosen to promote a particular new package to Instagram users only. When I set up the ad, I chose Instagram as the only placements for the ad, however Ads Manager persists in displaying a message that switching on Advantage+ placements will result in a 9% lower cost per result based on their modelling. If I wasn’t experienced in knowing what Advantage+ placements would do, I’d hit the button to apply the changes and the ad would appear all over Meta’s technologies, including Facebook, Messenger, Audience Network and Threads. I’d end up with an unhappy client if they noticed their carefully planned Instagram ad campaign and budget was being spread across a variety of unapproved networks!

Read more: How Google AI Overviews & AI Mode Will Impact Your Traffic in Search

The above is only an example of where Meta is making a recommendation to swap to an AI feature; there are a number of AI features listed above that Meta has auto-enabled across ads, meaning that you might not have even realised they’ve been switched on. And even more scary: some are even applied to live campaigns that are already running. Here are a few examples:

Morphed ad copy: Advertisers have noticed Meta mixing ad copy from different products and campaigns into one live ad, even when Advantage+ Enhancements were opted out of. These variations don’t appear in preview, leaving ads looking inconsistent and unprofessional once published. (Source: Reddit)

Turned off ad sets & merged audiences: Some accounts have seen Meta automatically turn off profitable ad sets and merge segmented lookalike audiences, effectively undoing deliberate campaign structure and strategy. (Source: Search Engine Land)

Budget changes on edits: Advertisers report Meta unexpectedly increasing daily budgets during the edit process, sometimes defaulting to higher amounts or multiplying budgets by five, even when no changes were made to budget settings. (Source: Reddit)

Enabling site links and products: This is a personal story! My eBike client MiRiDER spotted that, after an update, their Facebook ad was displaying archived products on their site – the option to display products in the ad in the creative setup had switched on overnight, and it had selected an old catalogue that held information on products that were no longer available.

On the same day, my glamping client, Catgill Farm, noticed that boxes displaying links to various pages on their website were appearing underneath their ads. In the same place in creative setup, “Site links” had been switched on, but it wasn’t optimised so they were all displaying the same image! Luckily, these were easy fixes, but had we not been available to search through the ad account on their behalf, identify the troublemaking ads and untick those boxes, they could have been wasting budget for far longer than was necessary!

This isn’t to say that all of Meta’s AI features are a problem – that’s definitely not true! But it’s when they are used alongside inexperience or to replace experts who can give more insight into why something is or isn’t performing well that they can become problematic.

How Ad Accounts Benefit From an Audit

Regular audits are essential for advertisers, agencies, and brand partners. An audit can help you:

1. Spot Auto-Enabled Features

Check for toggles in the professional dashboard or Meta Help Center. Features like “Automatic Adjustments,” “Creative Optimisations,” or Meta AI translations may already be active.

2. Re-Align with Brand Goals

Ensure your digital content matches your brand strategy, not just what an algorithm predicts. For example, make sure persona-based text generation doesn’t create ads with the wrong tone.

3. Verify Language and Accessibility Settings

If you’re targeting specific languages, check that translation tools and audio tracks are delivering accurate translations. Review custom image descriptions to ensure they reflect your brand voice.

4. Manage Creative Integrity

Audit ads for misplaced text overlays, missing brand logos, or inappropriate AI-generated images. Double-check new options like offer detection to confirm they’re relevant.

5. Test Against Automation

Run A/B tests between automated and manual setups to see if automation truly delivers the best results for your brand. In many cases, human creativity plus AI assistance beats full automation.

Best Practices for Staying Ahead

  1. Schedule regular audits: at least quarterly, or after major Meta updates.
  2. Monitor the professional dashboard: review performance suggestions carefully.
  3. Train teams on new features: have someone in your team stay up to date with the latest AI features and make sure everyone understands what’s being auto-enabled.
  4. Balance automation with oversight: let AI handle repetitive tasks, but keep creative and strategic control in-house.
  5. Stay informed: Meta frequently announces new tools in the Meta Store and through the Meta Help Center.

Meta’s steady rollout of AI features, from AI-generated images and text overlay to translated audio with synced lip movements, represents a powerful toolkit for advertisers and Facebook creators. These AI systems can help reach new audiences, break language barriers, and scale digital content faster than ever before.

Read more: Embracing AI: How Bronco is experimenting with artificial intelligence to benefit our clients

But with automation increasingly switched on by default, advertisers must regularly review and audit their ad campaigns. By checking settings, verifying translations, and keeping control over the tone of your own voice, businesses can unlock the benefits of automation while protecting their brand identity. This type of task is best handled by someone who knows Meta’s ad platform inside and out – Facebook ad audits are something we can help with at Bronco, just get in touch if you need a hand!

As Meta moves toward fully automated campaigns by 2026, the brands that thrive will be those that embrace generative AI smartly, balancing real-time information and new options with the human creativity needed to form deeper connections.

Write a comment