Meta and Google Had ‘Secret Deal’ To Target Ads to Minors

Google and Meta made a secret deal to target Instagram ads to teenagers on YouTube — breaking the search giant’s own rules against advertising to children.

According to a report by the Financial Times, Google worked on a marketing project for Meta that was designed to target 13 to 17-year-old YouTube users with ads that promoted Instagram.

The ads on YouTube were intended to bring more teenagers to Instagram as TikTok threatens to take dominance over this younger demographic.

The Instagram campaign deliberately targeted a group of users labeled as “unknown” in its ad system which skewed towards those under 18.

According to internal documents seen by the Financial Times and people familiar with the matter, Google was aware that the “unknown” user category leaned towards those under 18 but allowed the campaign anyway.

On its website, Google defines the “unknown” category as referring to users “whose age, gender, parental status, or household income we haven’t identified.” It can allow advertisers to reach “a significantly wider audience” when selected.

Internal documents reportedly revealed that Google employees tried to disguise the campaign’s true goal of reaching underage users.

Since 2021, Google has banned ads targeting under-18 users based on age, gender, or interests — making the marketing project a direct violation of the search company’s own rules for how minors are treated online.

According to the Financial Times, Google staffers were able to use app downloads and online activity to determine “with a high degree of confidence” that the “unknown” group was populated by younger users.

Google staffers are said to have used this loophole to get around the company’s own policies against targeting under-18 users.

Google initiated an investigation into the allegations made in the report, after the company was contacted by the Financial Times. The marketing project has now reportedly been canceled.

“We prohibit ads being personalized to people under-18, period,” a spokesperson for Google tells the Financial Times.

The spokesperson adds: “We’ll also be taking additional action to reinforce with sales representatives that they must not help advertisers or agencies run campaigns attempting to work around our policies.”

 
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