Google and Meta Secretly Target 'Teen' Ads... Controversy Over Bypassing Regulations

Google and Meta Platforms have secretly signed an advertising project contract to promote Instagram targeting teenage users on YouTube. This circumvents Google's own regulations prohibiting advertisements aimed at minors online.

According to major foreign media on the 8th (local time), the marketing project conducted by Google for Meta was designed targeting YouTube users aged 13 to 17. Since this project to attract young users to Instagram violates Google's own youth protection regulations, the advertising system targeted the 'unknown user' group.

This is seen as a measure to disguise the true intent of the project. Google's own regulations also prohibit such circumvention, known as proxy targeting (a marketing technique targeting indirectly related factors).

The marketing project between Google and Meta was ongoing even when CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to the family of a minor victim of sexual exploitation on Instagram during a congressional hearing in January. Last week, CEO Zuckerberg also praised recent efforts to increase user inflow aged 18 to 29 in response to the rise of platforms like TikTok.

However, sources confirmed that the project has now been canceled. Google stated, "We prohibit personalized ads to minors under 18," adding, "We will take additional measures to emphasize to sales representatives that they should not assist advertisers or agencies in circumventing our policies." Meta stated that targeting the 'unknown user' group cannot be considered a circumvention of regulations such as personalization.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.