A recent report has revealed that Meta and Google secretly collaborated to target minors with Instagram ads on YouTube, exploiting a loophole in Google’s advertising policies. According to the Financial Times, this campaign specifically aimed at users aged 13 to 17, breaking Google’s own rules against advertising to children.
The scheme involved Google directing ads to a user group labeled as “unknown” within its advertising systems. This category was intended for users whose age, gender, or other demographic details were not identified, allowing advertisers to reach a broader audience. However, the report claims that Google could accurately infer that many in this “unknown” group were teenagers, effectively bypassing their own restrictions on targeting minors.
In 2021, Google implemented policies prohibiting ad targeting based on the age, gender, or interests of users under 18. Despite these rules, it appears that Google’s staff used the “unknown” label as a workaround, enabling Meta to target young users with Instagram ads. This clandestine campaign ran in Canada between February and April 2024, with a trial expansion in the U.S. in May. The plan was to eventually roll out this campaign globally and include promotions for other Meta services, such as Facebook, demonstrating the extent of the Google-Meta ad deal.
The timing of this campaign coincided with declining advertising revenues for Google and a shift of younger users from Meta’s platforms to competitors like TikTok. This decline in engagement likely drove the companies to adopt more aggressive marketing tactics, despite the ethical and legal implications of targeting minors.
Following the exposure of this campaign, Google launched an internal investigation and has since canceled the program. In response to the allegations, Google emphasized its commitment to protecting minors, stating, “We prohibit ads being personalized to people under 18, period.” The company also announced plans to reinforce its policies with sales representatives to prevent future violations. Meta, on the other hand, has not publicly commented on the issue.
This revelation has sparked concerns over the practices of major tech companies in safeguarding the privacy and well-being of young users. As these platforms face increasing scrutiny from regulators and the public, the incident underscores the ongoing challenges in balancing business interests with ethical responsibilities in the digital age. The secretive nature of the Google-Meta ad deal and its focus on YouTube ads targeting minors has only added to the growing criticism of these tech giants and their advertising practices.
