Meta and Google’s Secretive Ad Campaign Targeting Teens Against Policy
New Delhi: In a recent report ,it has unveiled a controversial advertising campaign involving tech giants Meta and Google, sparking widespread concern. According to the report, Meta and Google allegedly collaborated on a covert initiative that ran Instagram ads targeting teenagers on YouTube, in direct violation of Google’s own advertising guidelines. The ads, which were aimed at users aged 13 to 17, contravened Google’s policies that explicitly prohibit advertising to individuals under 18.
The report further disclosed that the campaign targeted a demographic labeled as “unknown” in Google’s advertising system—a category typically used when age, gender, or other demographic information is not explicitly identified. However, it was found that Google could infer that many of these “unknown” users were likely teenagers, based on their online activities and app downloads. This allowed Meta and Google to effectively bypass the restrictions Google implemented in 2021, which were designed to prevent ads from being targeted at minors.
The campaign was reportedly orchestrated with the help of the US-based advertising agency Spark Foundry and initially ran in Canada earlier this year. It was later tested in the US in May, with plans to expand globally. The timing of the campaign coincided with declining ad revenue for Google and a shift of Meta’s younger audience towards competing platforms like TikTok.
Once exposed, Google quickly initiated an investigation and shut down the program. In response, Google issued a statement reiterating its commitment to preventing ads from being personalized to individuals under 18, and pledged to reinforce its policies to avoid future violations. Meta, which had recently implemented changes to its advertising system to protect underage users, has yet to fully address the controversy.
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