Many astrologers, tarot readers, or zodiac meme accounts on social media buzzed about an alleged upcoming “ban” on astrology and tarot content last weekend.

This is rooted in an announcement on November 9, 2021, by Meta stating that beginning on January 19, 2022, the company would remove “Detailed Targeting options that relate to topics people may perceive as sensitive.” Specifically, this includes categories “referencing causes, organizations, or public figures that relate to health, race or ethnicity, political affiliation, religion, or sexual orientation.”

On January 21, professional astrologer and intuitive tarot reader Kiara Stellar tried to post an Instagram ad. When she tried to target the ad to people interested in categories like “astrology,” “horoscopes,” or individual zodiac signs, she got a notification reading, “Some interests are no longer available. Your audiences have been updated.”

Hence, the rumor seems to be a misunderstanding of such a recent change in Meta’s policy regarding keyword targeting for paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram. Representatives for both Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, and TikTok claim that their platforms are not banning astrology or tarot content.

As long as it follows each platform’s community standards, all content is acceptable, encouraged even. A TikTok representative added that TikTok’s #astrology videos have more than 32 billion views.

But is it only targeting tarot and astrology?
According to Meta, these changes don’t only affect the astrology and tarot industry only as the company also names “lung cancer awareness,” “LGBT culture,” and “Jewish holidays” as three examples of sensitive keywords that can no longer be used in targeted advertising. The announcement, on the other hand, doesn’t specifically mention astrology or tarot at all.

Tarosophy Tarot Association has since written that the update is seemingly more about "increasing privacy concerns, legal changes in the EU and the abuse of the political targeting of people by 'bad actors' which has been raised in several US inquiries and panels."

Over the past two years, many astrologers and tarot readers have noticed their social media reach declining and blamed shadow banning. But unrelated changes to the algorithm or a change in audience interest or habits as the pandemic curving down might also play some role in this.

Learning from their past experiences, such as with the payment tech company Stripe that used to boot tarot readers and astrologers from their platform with no warning, due to a policy prohibiting “psychic services”, many astrology and tarot professionals indeed do not have a lot of trust in the tech world. Stripe changed its policy in November 2021, but the damage is done.

Some tarot readers, like Stellar, tried to change her approach instead. This goes by changing the keywords, such as using personal development, instead. Others advise stopping solely relying on social media, especially with the risk of being hacked or impersonated, and preparing alternative platforms, such as a website.