Meta is rolling out new shopping features across Facebook and Instagram, including live video ads, virtual card checkout, and a broader affiliate network for creators, as the company looks to turn product discovery across its apps into purchases.
The announcement came ahead of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Meta said 3.5 billion people across its apps experience AI-enabled product discovery daily, and the new tools are aimed at capturing more of that activity at the point of sale.
Live shopping moves back into focus
A central part of the update is live video advertising. Meta is introducing Live Video Ads on Instagram and expanding the format globally on Facebook, allowing businesses to promote live video content to people beyond their existing followers.
In the United States, Meta said it is working with live commerce platforms CommentSold, Firework, LiveMeUp, Sprii, and TalkShopLive. Through those partnerships, sellers can turn eligible livestreams into ads targeted at new customers.
On Facebook, those ads can also be paired with Live Shopping Tools, giving viewers an in-stream path to browse products, check prices, and complete purchases without leaving the livestream.
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Virtual cards for checkout
Starting this summer, Meta plans to launch a virtual card checkout feature on Facebook and Instagram in partnership with Mastercard and Visa.
The feature will create temporary, one-time card numbers linked to a shopper’s existing account, so transactions can be completed without directly sharing credit card details with merchants. Meta said the goal is to improve security for consumers and make them more confident about completing purchases.
Affiliate network expands across regions
Meta is also widening its affiliate program by adding Flipkart in India and Mercado Libre in Brazil and Mexico to its Facebook affiliate partner network. Lazada will be added for Facebook creators in Asia, while Flipkart will also expand to Instagram creators in India.
Under the program, creators can connect affiliate accounts to Facebook and Instagram and place affiliate product links directly into their content. When someone buys through a creator’s post, the creator receives a commission from the affiliate partner.
The company said creators in 22 countries can now add affiliate links or tag products from a brand’s catalog directly on Instagram. That builds on an affiliate tagging feature for Reels introduced in late March 2026. When users tap those tagged products, they are sent to the brand’s app or website to complete the transaction.
The move also marks Instagram’s return to affiliate commerce after a series of program closures between 2022 and 2025. During that period, Instagram shut down its native affiliate program in August 2022, removed its Shop tab in January 2023, and ended live shopping in March of that year.
Product data feeds Meta’s ad system
Meta said that this summer it will begin using product data as a core input across all Sales campaigns. Rather than having advertisers choose ad formats manually, businesses will provide product data and creative assets, and Meta’s system will determine the best-performing format for each viewer in real time.
According to the company, that same product data will also help products appear in Meta AI Shopping mode for U.S. users in the Meta AI app, as well as in recommendations from Business Agents.
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