Meta’s new ad game rules
ET BrandEquity
India's premier source of information, news and opinion on the Marketing and Advertising
Recently, Meta blocked ad firms from being able to access data of teenagers in order to curb targeted ads. To be fair, after all the fines they had to shell out, what else could they have resorted to??
The tech giant was earlier stuck in back-to-back legal tangles with the EU antitrust, Cambridge Analytics, FTC and more. But now, Meta is moving a step forward and changing the rules of the game for advertisers to steer clear of any further issues.
According to a Meta blog post, advertisers will no longer be able to see a user’s gender or the type of posts they have engaged in starting next month. Firms will be forced to show users ads only based on their age and location according to the new rules.
Further to prevent teen targeted advertising, users can also reduce ads by choosing ‘see less’ in their settings on both Facebook and Instagram.
Earlier several safety campaigners alleged that social media platforms do nothing to control the content shown to teenage users via advertisements, which may also include offensive and abusive ads.
According to Statista, as of January 2022, Facebook and Instagram garner 2910 million and 1478 million monthly active users respectively. Out of this, 5.6 per cent users belong to the age group of 13-17 on Facebook alone.
This clearly shows a large portion of users were being exposed to content not appropriate for their age, making social media a more dangerous place for teenagers.
To further prevent this mess, Meta introduced a new AI algorithm called Variance Reduction System (VRS), beginning with the USA. This new algorithm will tweak the ad system in a way that allows advertisers to reach their target audience while avoiding unintentional discrimination against other groups.?
What brands and advertisers do next to target the most active users on social media while playing safe, will be a treat to watch.
Other stories of the week: