Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, on Tuesday said online advertisers on its platforms will not be able to target children below 18 years of age with ads on the basis of their engagement on the social media platforms, including their activities like going through Instagram posts and Facebook pages, etc.
Next month onwards, the company will also remove ‘gender’ as an option for advertisers to target children and will only keep age and location as options to show ads to the children. The company will also allow the children to flag ads that are not of their interest and educate them about how ad targeting works and the reason for such ads on its social media platforms.
“We recognise that teens aren’t necessarily as equipped as adults to make decisions about how their online data is used for advertising, particularly when it comes to showing them products available to purchase. For that reason, we’re further restricting the options advertisers have to reach teens, as well as the information we use to show ads to teens,” Meta said, adding that children will also be given more control over managing the types of ads they see on Facebook and Instagram.
“Age and location will be the only information about a teen that we’ll use to show them ads. Age and location help us continue to ensure teens see ads that are meant for their age and products and services available where they live,” it added.
Last year, Irish Data Protection Commission fined Instagram $400 million for allegedly violating children’s privacy on the platforms by making public their email ids and phone numbers based on the default account setting.
In India, the government is working on a digital data protection Bill, which also contains provisions for verifiable parental consent by companies related to the use of children’s data.
Clause 10 of the Bill does not allow data fiduciaries such as Google, Apple and Meta to track or monitor children and target advertisements at them.
“We’re always working on more ways to help keep teens safe, provide them with privacy controls and educate them about how our technologies work,” Meta said.
As per its policy, children can continue to choose to hide any or all ads from a specific advertiser and the company already prohibit ads about restricted topics — like alcohol, financial products and weight loss products and services — for children under 18 (and older in certain countries).