New York: Tech giants Google and Meta are under scrutiny following revelations of a covert advertising campaign targeting teenagers, in apparent violation of Google’s own policies against targeting users under 18.
According to an investigation by the Financial Times, the two companies collaborated with Spark Foundry US, a media agency under Publicis Groupe, to aim ads at teens on YouTube, skirting established guidelines.
The campaign, which ran between February and April of this year, reportedly targeted a user group labeled as “unknown”—a category that Google knew was disproportionately made up of users under the age of 18. This strategy allowed the companies to sidestep Google’s rules, which prohibit the personalization of ads for minors.
The program was initially tested in the U.S. with plans for expansion into international markets to promote other Meta platforms like Facebook. However, after the Financial Times contacted Google about the allegations, the tech company initiated an internal investigation and subsequently dropped the project.
Google responded to the accusations by reaffirming its commitment to policies that prevent targeting minors and announced additional training for its sales representatives to ensure compliance. A spokesperson for the company emphasized that their safeguards were in place and functioned correctly in this instance, but further action would be taken to reinforce adherence to their policies.
Meta, for its part, acknowledged marketing its apps to teens as platforms for social connection but insisted that it follows clear principles when doing so. The company maintained that Google’s “unknown” targeting option is accessible to all advertisers and asserted that it does not use teens’ interest data for targeted ads.
This controversy comes on the heels of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg’s congressional testimony earlier this year, where he apologized to the families of children who were sexually exploited through the platform. The incident adds to growing concerns over the ethical responsibilities of tech companies in protecting vulnerable online audiences.
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