Meta and Google secretly targeted minors on YouTube with Instagram ads
Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images Meta and Google teamed up to run a secret campaign that deliberately targeted 13 to 17-year-olds with Instagram ads on YouTube according to the Financial Times, breaking the search giant's own rules against advertising to children.
The publication reports that Google directed ads to a subset of users labeled as unknown" in its advertising systems, in an attempt to disguise the group skewed toward teenagers. According to a Google Ads help page, the unknown" demographic category refers to people whose age, gender, parental status, or household income are supposedly unidentified, and can allow advertisers to reach a significantly wider audience" when selected.
However, Google could use app downloads and online activity to determine...