When it comes to children’s mental health and privacy, their loss is a huge gain for social media companies. $11 billion to be exact.
That’s because social media platforms generated $11 billion in revenue from advertising aimed at children and teenagers last year, including about $2 billion in ad revenue from users under the age of 12, according to a new study from Harvard University. is shown to be included.
According to the survey results, Snaphat, TikTok, and Youtube captured the highest share of these billions, with a combined share of around 30% to 40%.
“While social media platforms may claim they can self-regulate their behavior to reduce harm to young people, they have not yet done so and our research shows that social media platforms are “Our results suggest that there are overwhelming economic incentives to continue delaying meaningful steps to protect people,” said one of the study’s authors and a professor of social and behavioral sciences at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. S. Bryn Austin said.
YouTube, Instagram and Facebook generated hundreds of millions of dollars in profits last year from ads targeted to children using their platforms, with $959.1 million and $801.1 million, respectively, according to Harvard University researchers. , which generated $137.2 million. In the same year, Instagram, Tiktok, and Youtube generated massive revenues of $4 billion, $2 billion, and $1.2 billion, respectively, from ads targeting teenage users.
The study is based on public and market research data from 2021 and 2022 and focuses on two age groups in the United States: children 12 and under and adolescents 13 to 17. Researchers looked at both groups’ advertising activity on six popular social media platforms: Youtube, X, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat.
Growing pressure on child protection
Criticism of social media platforms is growing as health authorities raise concerns about the potential negative impact apps such as Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok can have on young people’s mental health.
Dr. Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General in May Called for stronger guidelines on social media It points to a growing body of research that the platform can pose what it describes as “significant risks” to young people’s mental health.
According to reports CBS’ 60 Minutes in June Since December last year, the number of families filing lawsuits has increased to more than 2,000. More than 350 lawsuits are expected to move forward this year against TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Roblox, and Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook.
Recently, the attorneys general of 33 states filed a federal lawsuit against Meta In October, the company illegally collected personal information from children without parental consent, used highly manipulative tactics to attract and maintain engagement, and targeted young users on its Facebook and Instagram platforms. claimed to have caused damage.
Also in October, the New York State Legislature proposed a bill that would prohibit minors from accessing so-called “addictive feeds” without parental consent.