New Delhi: Facebook and Instagram-owned Meta on Tuesday said advertisers on its platform will not target children under 18 with ads based on their engagement on social media platforms. That is, the Instagram posts and Facebook page activity of teenagers will not be monitored.
From next month, the company will also remove ‘gender’ as an option for advertisers to target children and will have the option of age and location to show ads only to children. The company will also allow kids to flag ads that aren’t of interest to them. Along with this, they will also be given information about how ad targeting works and the reason for such advertisements on its social media platforms.
Teenagers do not understand
Meta said we recognize that teens do not have the same understanding as adults to make decisions about how their online data is used for advertising. Especially when it comes to showing them the products available for purchase. For this reason, we are further limiting advertisers’ options to reach teens, as well as the information we use to serve ads to teens.
Meta also said that children will be given more control to manage the kind of ads they want to see on Facebook and Instagram. The company said that we will only know about a teenager’s age and location, which we will use to show them advertisements. Age and location help us ensure that teens are seeing ads that are appropriate for their age and that products and services are available where they live.
In India, the government is working on a Digital Data Protection Bill, which would require companies to seek parental consent for the use of children’s data.
