Social media companies such as Instagram, Youtube or Facebook earned almost $11 billion (9.9 billion euros) from advertising to minors in the US in 2022, a study published on Wednesday said.
According to a study from the Harvard School of Public Health. T.Ch. Chan, research suggests there is a need for government regulation of social media as platforms continue to delay self-regulation.
Regulation is important to ensure greater transparency from tech companies to mitigate the damage to young people’s mental health and reduce potentially harmful advertising practices targeting children and teenagers.
The platforms themselves don’t disclose how much they make from minors, but according to a Harvard study, YouTube generated the highest ad revenue from users aged 12 and under ($959.1 million), followed by Instagram ($801.1 million). and Facebook (137.2 million).
Instagram generated the highest ad revenue from users ages 13 to 17 ($4 billion), followed by TikTok ($2 billion) and YouTube ($1.2 billion).
The researchers also estimated that Snapchat generated the majority of its total advertising revenue in 2022 from users under the age of 18 (41%), followed by TikTok (35%), YouTube (27%) and Instagram (16%).
To get the revenue measure, the researchers estimated the number of users under age 18 on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube in 2022, using U.S. Census data and Common Sense survey data. Media and Pew research.
Data from research firm eMarketer, now called Insider Intelligence, and Qustodio, a parental control app, were used to estimate ad revenue for each platform in the U.S. in 2022 and the time children spent per day on each platform.
The data was then used to build a simulation model to estimate the amount of advertising revenue the platforms received from children under 18 in the US.
Researchers and policymakers have long focused on the negative consequences of social media, whose personalized algorithms can lead to overuse by children.
This year, lawmakers in states including New York and Utah introduced or passed legislation to restrict social media use by children, citing harm to young people’s mental health and other concerns.
Dozens of states have sued Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, for allegedly contributing to the mental health crisis.
“While social media platforms may claim they can self-regulate their practices to reduce the harm caused to young people, they have not yet done so, and our research shows they have huge financial incentives to continue delaying meaningful child protection measures.” , – he said. Bryn Austin, a professor in Harvard’s Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and senior author of the study.
In a 2020 policy paper, the American Academy of Pediatrics stated that children are “exceptionally vulnerable to the persuasive effects of advertising due to their immature critical thinking and impulse inhibition abilities.”
“School-age children and teens can recognize advertising, but they often cannot resist it when it is embedded in trusted social networks, endorsed by celebrities, or delivered alongside personalized content,” the academy noted.
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