Meta switches on in-app product browsing for existing ads from 28 October, in Belgium too

Meta has told advertisers it will automatically switch on product browsing for existing Facebook and Instagram ads from 28 October 2026, according to falia.co and ppc.land. In practice, a click on an ad will first open an in-app page with product information and personalised suggestions, before reaching the advertiser's own website. The change applies ad by ad and lands a month before Black Friday on 27 November, a period when Belgian businesses selling online are finalising their last campaigns. Without an opt-out before that date, every ad switches on its own to this new journey.

1. A customer journey that changes without any action

From 28 October, clicking a Facebook or Instagram ad may first open an in-app page with product information and personalised suggestions, before reaching the advertiser's website. Meta justifies the change with a test run from 6 to 21 August 2026 among roughly 117,700 advertisers, which reportedly delivered 3% more conversions on average, according to falia.co. Neither the exact definition of those conversions nor their effect on actual revenue is specified.

2. A tight timeline before Black Friday for Belgian businesses

The change lands a month before Black Friday on 27 November, just as Belgian businesses selling online are finalising their end-of-year campaigns. Any business running ads with a product catalogue on Facebook or Instagram is affected, whatever its size. Between now and 28 October, the window to check every campaign and decide on an opt-out is short.

3. An ad-by-ad opt-out, with no account-wide switch

To opt out, an advertiser must click the button in the notice Meta sends before 28 October, or turn off the setting in the Advantage+ Creative and Destination settings, ad by ad. No bulk, account-level option has been announced, and the notice does not say whether the opt-out covers one ad account or several, a sensitive point for a business running several brands or shops.

According to falia.co, direct traffic to the advertiser's own site may drop, the reliability of landing-page A/B tests is undermined, and ads that are reactivated or duplicated may turn the setting back on without warning.

4. What to check in your reporting

Part of the customer journey now stays inside Facebook or Instagram, which can change the traffic and conversion figures measured on the business's own site. Comparing data from before and after 28 October, over a window of at least two weeks, helps tell a real effect apart from a simple change in measurement.

The AI lens, humans first

The test Meta cites to justify this change was run by its own personalisation algorithms, which continuously adjust the product page shown to each user. The AI carries out this automation and measures an average conversion gain, without detailing the method. Deciding whether to switch this setting on or off for each Belgian ad, interpreting that figure without a clear definition, and weighing traffic kept by Meta against traffic sent to the business's own site remain human calls. AI executes. Expertise decides, and keeps watch.