In the summer, a newspaper investigation revealed details of a secret deal between Google and Instagram’s owner, Meta, which targeted teenagers, and now European Commission officials are probing into exactly what happened.
The deal, which has allegedly now been scrapped, pushed 13-17 years old using YouTube towards content on Instagram, ignoring the search company’s own policies towards minors.
This deal doesn’t look good for Google, as it suggests the company actively helped to drive teenagers towards a social media platform. The addictive nature and dangers of social media for children are well and truly in the spotlight with Australia’s landmark decision to ban social media access for under-16 year olds. Other countries are also putting measures in place, but to varying degrees of control.
Secret Agreement
The Financial Times ran the initial story about the secret deal in August after seeing papers and speaking to people in the know. The newspaper revealed that Google had worked on a marketing project for Meta using YouTube ads to promote Instagram.
The report also suggested that there was subterfuge. It wrote: “The Instagram campaign deliberately targeted a group of users labelled as “unknown” in its advertising system, which Google knew skewed towards under-18.”
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The deal – made between rivals – was reportedly signed so that Google could boost its ad revenue and so that Meta could get the attention of young users whose heads had been turned from Instagram to TikTok.
The newspaper adds that the campaign was “already in development” when Mark Zuckerberg apologized to families whose children had been victims of sexual exploitation and abuse on his platforms in the US Congress.
Cancelled After the Pilots
The FT revealed that the initial pilot marketing programme ran in Canada from February to April; and was spearheaded by Spark Foundry, a US subsidiary of French advertising giant Publicis.
The next target market was the US, where the ad campaign ran in May. There were plans for further expansion and also to advertise other Meta platforms, including Facebook.
However, the FT news story sparked an internal investigation by Google and “people familiar with the matter” said that the program has now stopped running.
Ignoring Its Own Rules
However, this isn’t the end of the matter as the European Commission has now asked for details about the now defunct deal. Reuters says this includes “data, presentations, internal chats and emails related to the ad campaigns.”
One aspect of the investigation is bound to be whether Google went against its own rules, which prohibit it from personalizing ads to target those under 18. Google denies any wrongdoing. “The safeguards we have to protect teens, like prohibiting ad personalization, are industry leading and continue to work,” a Google spokesperson said in an email to Reuters.
This echoes a statement made in response to the initial investigation and hinges, said the FT, on the fact that “no registered YouTube users known to be under 18 were directly targeted by the company.”
At a time when social media platforms are under scrutiny, any suggestion of underhanded dealings from either Google or Meta is not going to strengthen their arguments that they have the welfare of young users at heart.
