Google And Meta's Secret Deal? Silicon Valley Giants Made Furtive Move To Sell Ads To Teenagers, Says Report

Alphabet-owned Google and Mark Zuckerberg's Meta, the members of the American 'Magnificent Seven', are known for their intense rivalry in the cutthroat tech sector. But according to a report from the British publication Financial Times, these big-tech companies have allegedly come together to produce something unscrupulous.

The Secret Deal

According to a report from FT, these companies allegedly came to a deal to sell advertisements specifically targeting teenagers or users under the age of 18. This, if true, contravenes policies and guidelines that prevent targeting children or users under the age of 18.

These companies themselves have preventive mechanisms in place that are ostensibly designed to prevent such specific targeting.

The companies allegedly used a loophole and third-party advertising agencies to make this happen.

To Capture The Under-18 Market

According to the report, the companies, instead of specifically mentioning the age of the users, put them in the 'unknown category' that has not been specifically codified.

This development is crucial for two principle reasons. At first, comes the commerce of it all. Meta's Instagram has lagged behind TikTok and its behemothian presence in the under-18 category; Instagram, with its new features, has only played catch-up in the race. This, therefore, was their means to tap into the market segment and expand their business.

For Meta platforms, Facebook and Instagram, this is a crucial segment. According to a statistic from 2022, about 3.9 per cent of Facebook's users are aged 13-17.

When we come to Instagram, teenagers in the age group of 13-17 make up 8.5 per cent of registered users. Given the nature of social media platforms, the real number could be much higher.

The second reason why this development is crucial is that these social media giants, especially Zuckerberg's Instagram and Facebook, have long been accused of exploiting the age group of under-18 for their businesses and, in turn, have been accused of turning a blind eye to the problems that exist in the system.

This also resulted in the death of many teens. Eventually, Zuckerberg had to appear in front of the US Congress to answer questions.

He famously tendered a much-discussed apology to the kin of the victims as well.

Both companies have denied some of these allegations, but, according to FT, have not blanketly denied misusing the 'Unknown category' for their own benefit.