Tech giants Google and Meta reportedly collaborated on a marketing project designed to target YouTube users aged 13 to 17 with advertisements promoting Instagram, skirting Google’s own rules for how minors are treated online.
According to documents reviewed by the Financial Times and insider sources, Google worked with Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta on an advertising campaign that deliberately targeted a group of YouTube users labeled as “unknown” in its advertising system, which the company knew skewed towards under-18s. The project disregarded Google’s policies that prohibit personalizing and targeting ads to minors, including serving ads based on demographics and circumventing its own guidelines.
The collaboration between the two companies, who are typically fierce competitors as the world’s largest online advertising platforms, began late last year as Google sought to boost its advertising earnings and Meta scrambled to retain younger users’ attention against fast-growing rivals like TikTok. The project was developed by Spark Foundry, a U.S. subsidiary of French advertising giant Publicis, and was piloted in Canada between February and April this year before being trialed in the U.S. in May.
Google saw the pilot programs as an opportunity to grow into a more lucrative “full-funnel” relationship with Meta, involving more expensive “brand” adverts on YouTube and other platforms. However, when contacted by the Financial Times, Google initiated an investigation into the allegations, and the project has since been canceled.
Google stated that it prohibits personalizing ads to people under 18 and that its policies go beyond what is required, supported by technical safeguards. However, it did not deny using the “unknown” loophole, which allowed the company to target users without explicitly identifying them as minors.
Meta disagreed that selecting the “unknown” audience constituted personalization or a circumvention of any rules, stating that it adhered to its own policies and those of its peers when advertising its services. The company has been open about marketing its apps to young people as a place for them to connect with friends, find community, and discover their interests.
Meta has long faced scrutiny for its policies on minors, with ongoing lawsuits and investigations by the Federal Trade Commission. In 2021, the company shelved plans to launch a kids version of Instagram following public backlash and leaked research suggesting the app is detrimental to the mental health of teenage girls.
Read more at the Financial Times here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
