In efforts to stamp out discrimination and potential usage of the platform’s ads targeting options in a divisive manner, Facebook is planning to remove more than 5,000 advanced targeting options.

Facebook explains the new move as follows:

“We’re committed to protecting people from discriminatory advertising on our platforms. That’s why we’re removing over 5,000 targeting options to help prevent misuse. While these options have been used in legitimate ways to reach people interested in a certain product or service, we think minimizing the risk of abuse is more important. This includes limiting the ability for advertisers to exclude audiences that relate to attributes such as ethnicity or religion.”

Religious beliefs and racial profiling related targeting options are among the main elements that are going to be removed from the list.

While it seems that Facebook is removing a significant number of ad targeting tools, it still maintains a wide range of complex targeting options that are enough to fulfill advertisers’ needs, and that are not available in other social media platforms.

It is also worth noting that Facebook is rolling out a new advertiser certification process, for US advertisers only at this stage, to help reduce discriminatory content on the platform.

Read more here.