Google and Meta, two tech giants often at loggerheads, secretly collaborated to target ads for Instagram to teenagers on YouTube. The deal, which bypassed Google’s own rules regarding the treatment of minors online, has raised concerns about privacy and the ethical implications of targeting adolescents with digital advertising.
Google & Meta to target ads to teenagers
The collaboration between Google and Meta focuses on targeting teenagers aged 13 to 17, as revealed by the Financial Times. The effort was part of a marketing campaign developed by Google to promote Instagram, Meta’s popular photo and video-sharing app. The ads are specifically aimed at YouTube users classified as “unknown” in Google’s advertising system. Notably, it is a group that includes a significant proportion of under-18s.
The collaboration is notable because it involved two companies that are typically fierce competitors in the digital advertising space. The partnership appears to have been driven by mutual benefits. Google aims to boost its advertising revenue, while Meta sought to retain younger users gravitating toward platforms like TikTok.
Such actions directly contravene Google’s policies against personalizing and targeting ads to minors. Moreover, the revelation comes just months after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to Congress for the platform’s exploitation of children. The secret deal between Google and Meta to target Google Meta ads for teenagers contrasts with this public contrition.
The Google-Meta ads for teenagers campaign was not a one-off event but part of a broader strategy. The companies partnered with Spark Foundry, a U.S. subsidiary of Publicis, to launch the pilot marketing program in Canada between February and April. The success of this initial run led to a trial in the U.S. in May, with plans for a broader international rollout. The campaign aimed to promote Instagram and other Meta apps, such as Facebook, to a young audience.
Despite the small scale of these pilot programs, Google viewed them as a potential springboard for a more lucrative partnership with Meta, involving high-profile brand advertisements across various platforms.
The partnership highlights the lengths to which both companies are willing to go to capture and retain the attention of younger users. The stakes are particularly high for Meta as it faces stiff competition from newer platforms like TikTok, which have been drawing away teenage users.
2024-08-08 15:05:09