Google supported Meta with a marketing project. The two Big Tech companies are reported to have reached a secret agreement. Accordingly, 13 to 17-year-olds who were on YouTube were clearly targeted with ads for Instagram – the real competitor if you think about Reels and Shorts. Above all, this approach contradicts the company’s own guidelines.
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About the secret deal Financial Times report. You must have documents related to the agreement. Accordingly, Instagram is said to have run a campaign that was intended to target a group that was described as “unknown” in its own advertising system. However, Google is said to know exactly which target group it meant – namely children under the age of 18. According to the Financial Times, confusion has been spread deliberately.
German DSA supervisory authority names first dispute resolution bodyGoogle has banned personalized advertising on its platform that is aimed at young people. In the European Union, it is generally prohibited to show ads to people under 18 years of age if they have been selected based on personal data. In the United States, the so-called Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is being planned, a law that will ensure the safety of children online.
Big Tech, children, and child protection laws
Just earlier in the year, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg apologized to families whose children were harmed by using his company’s online platform at a hearing in the US Senate. “I’m sorry for what you had to go through. No one should have to go through what your families have gone through and that’s why we’re investing so much and will continue to invest industry-leading efforts to make sure no one goes through what your families have had to go through,” Zuckerberg said. Other social media managers also had to testify before the Senate. It was about the fundamental problems of the social network for children and young people.
Secret agreements with Google on how to address young people and attract them to its platform give the apology a different look. The YouTube ad in question is said to have been run in Canada between February and April. Other markets should follow suit. According to the Financial Times, Google has launched an investigation. “We prohibit personalized ads aimed at people under the age of 18,” a spokesperson told the newspaper. The relevant protective measures are said to have worked. Accordingly, no YouTube user under the age of 18 saw the ad.
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According to the Financial Times, Meta denied that the “unknown” target group was actually intended to circumvent the rules and was aimed at young people. A Meta spokesperson says, “We have openly promoted our apps as a place where young people can meet friends, find community and explore their interests.”
(EMW)
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