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Social Media Giants Made $11 Billion from Ads Targeting Minors in 2022, Harvard Study Finds

The study underscores the need for government regulation and greater transparency from tech companies to protect youth from potentially harmful advertising practices.

Overview

  • Social media companies collectively made over $11 billion in U.S. advertising revenue from minors in 2022, according to a study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
  • The study suggests that the companies have failed to self-regulate and there is a need for government intervention to protect children and adolescents from potentially harmful advertising practices.
  • Researchers used data from the U.S. Census, Common Sense Media, Pew Research, eMarketer, and Qustodio to estimate the number of users under 18 on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube and the revenue these platforms generated from ads targeting them.
  • YouTube derived the greatest ad revenue from users 12 and under ($959.1 million), followed by Instagram ($801.1 million) and Facebook ($137.2 million). Instagram, meanwhile, derived the greatest ad revenue from users aged 13-17 ($4 billion), followed by TikTok ($2 billion) and YouTube ($1.2 billion).
  • The researchers also estimate that Snapchat derived the greatest share of its overall 2022 ad revenue from users under 18 (41%), followed by TikTok (35%), YouTube (27%), and Instagram (16%).