European regulators have requested more details from Google about a secret advertising partnership with Meta that bypassed Google’s own policies on advertising to minors.
The European Commission is investigating ad campaigns promoting Instagram to teenagers on YouTube. This inquiry raises the possibility of a formal investigation into the tech giant’s practices, reported The Financial Times.
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In October, regulators instructed Alphabet‘s legal team to gather data, presentations, internal chats, and emails related to these ad campaigns.
This information was collected during Google’s internal investigation, code-named “Tangerine Owl,” and presented to Brussels officials for further action. The commission has not commented on the matter.
The ad campaign, initially revealed in an FT investigation published in August, involved Google staff assisting Meta in circumventing its policies on minor-targeted advertising.
Although Google prohibits ad personalisation for teens, the Instagram campaign on YouTube is said to have targeted users labelled as “unknown,” a group that reportedly skews towards under-18s.
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By GlobalDataUsing this data, Spark Foundry, a subsidiary of French advertising major Publicis, reportedly launched a successful pilot marketing programme in Canada, later expanding to the US. Plans for a global rollout were halted following the FT report.
Google has since reinforced its policies, banning demographic-based targeting of the “unknown” group and requiring staff to affirm their understanding of these policies.
Google stated, “The safeguards we have to protect teens, like prohibiting ad personalisation, are industry-leading and continue to work.” The company has also become more cautious in its dealings with Meta, cancelling a quarterly business review with Meta and Spark Foundry, according to the report.
Despite this, Google and Meta continue to collaborate on multiple campaigns for Instagram and Facebook across various platforms.
Both companies face increasing scrutiny from politicians and regulators. Earlier in 2024, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was summoned before US Congress to address concerns about child exploitation on his platforms.
Recently, Google lost two antitrust cases related to its app store and search business.
