Facebook to ban advertisers targeting teens by gender
FACEBOOK and Instagram owner Meta is to ban advertisers from targeting teenagers by their gender in a move it claims will better protect children from online harms.
The $344bn (£283bn) company, which makes most of its money from advertising, announced the change yesterday.
Under the new policy, which will be rolled out in March, advertisers will be blocked from being able to target teenagers by gender, though they will still be able to target ads based on age or location.
Teens will also have access to a new setting allowing them to see fewer ads on Instagram and Facebook.
The move is likely to be seen as an attempt to head off further restrictions in the Government’s Online Safety Bill, which is currently before Parliament.
The Bill is part of efforts by the Government to impose more accountability on Silicon Valley companies, with former home secretary Priti Patel calling for big tech bosses to be jailed if their websites fail to protect children from harmful content.
Proposing an amendment to the Online Safety Bill this month, Ms Patel said: “The public expect senior managers at tech firms to be held fully to account for content published on their platforms and to be proactive in preventing harms and child sexual abuse taking place.”
Social media sites have come under fire repeatedly for failing to do enough to protect children and young people using their products.
There is no suggestion that advertisers are connected to images of self harm or child sexual abuse on Instagram and Facebook. However, parent company Meta suggested the new changes were part of a broader safeguarding efforts by the company. A spokesman said: “We recognize that teens aren’t necessarily as equipped as adults to make decisions about how their online data is used for advertising, particularly when it comes to showing them products available to purchase.”
Meta’s social media sites face stiff competition for younger users, with Instagram challenged by Chineseowned social video app Tiktok.