Meta Removes Page Likes Ad Objective, Officially Shutting Down Paid Follower Growth Path

Meta has removed the Maximize Page Likes campaign objective from its Ads Manager as of September 16, according to sources. The option is no longer available when creating new engagement ad campaigns, with ad CTAs adjusted from one-click follow buttons to prompts to visit the page. The system's optimization goal has shifted to page visits, officially blocking the channel for directly purchasing followers through paid advertising.

This adjustment is a continuation of Meta's broader "de-emphasis on likes" strategy. Starting in November 2025, Meta began phasing out the legacy Page Likes metric, replacing it with a new metrics framework centered on views and page visits. On February 10, 2026, the company went a step further to discontinue like and share buttons for external websites.

The underlying logic behind the moves is that the platform's content distribution mechanism has fully pivoted from social graphs to interest graphs. As the correlation between follower count and actual business conversion continues to weaken, brand Pages have gradually evolved from content distribution channels to mere brand display windows.

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