Additionally, Meta said that the previous use of Meta-owned apps by a teen will no longer influence the ads they view on the site. As part of its defense against claims that its services are detrimental to teenage users, Meta, the company of Facebook and Instagram announced on Tuesday that it was stopping allowing marketers to target ads to teens based on gender.
A social media giant announced in February that, going forward, advertisers, who generate the vast majority of the company’s enormous earnings, will only be able to target advertising at minors globally using age and geographical information.
Another departure from custom, the business stated teens will no longer receive ads based on their previous use of apps owned by Meta.
It was acknowledged, according to Meta in a blog post, that “kids aren’t necessarily as prepared as adults to make a decision about how the online data is used in advertising.” It’s why the changes were made.
According to Meta, the changes were made in response to comments from parents and professionals and would be in compliance with new regulations in various nations about content geared toward the young.
The organization formerly known as Facebook is coming under more and more pressure to stop showing its users highly tailored adverts, a technique that generates billions of dollars of yearly revenue for the firm from advertisers.
The Silicon Valley giant was given a fine of Euro 390 million (roughly Rs. 3,400 cr) last week as a result of years of legal disputes the with European Union regarding advertising.
More concerningly for the Mark Zuckerberg-founded firm, European regulators also disapproved of the legal justification Meta provided for collecting users’ personal information to be used in targeted advertising.
For violating privacy laws with targeted advertisements, regulators have also opened investigations against and fined Google and Apple.
In the US, local authorities have been the primary target of Meta or other social media giants, with national legislation being delayed as a result of difficult lobbying by tech companies and a partisan Congress in Washington.
Seattle, Washington, in the US, has a public school system that last week launched a lawsuit against many digital companies, including Meta, for allegedly harming kids’ mental health and generating despair and anxiety.
Officials from the public education system declared they are “holding social media firms accountable for the devastation they have wreaked also on social, emotional, or mental health” of adolescent students.
