Meta and Google bend ad rules; worked with Publicis-owned Spark Foundry in 'secret ad deal' to target minors

Tech giants Google and Meta are in the center of an alleged covert advertising operation. The Financial Times reported that Meta and Google struck a secret deal to target ads for Instagram to teenagers on YouTube. The report stated that the deal circumvented Google's own rules that prohibit personalising and targeting ads to minors.

The alleged deal also violated the policies against the circumvention of guidelines, or “proxy targeting”.

Referring to documents reviewed by the publication and people familiar with the matter, FT stated that Google worked on "a marketing project for Meta that was designed to target 13- to 17-year-old YouTube users" with ads promoting Instagram.

The campaign targeted a user group labelled as “unknown” in its ad system, "which Google knew skewed towards under-18s, these people said. Meanwhile, documents seen by the FT suggest steps were taken to ensure the true intent of the campaign was disguised," the report added.

The tech giants first tested the campaign in Canada this year and then took it to the US, with plans to launch the campaign in other international markets, the report added, pointing to the same sources of information.

Meta and Google worked with Spark Foundry, a Publicis Groupe-owned firm, to launch the pilot marketing programme, according to the people and documents seen by the FT.