EU digs further into Google and Meta's secret ad campaign targeting minors

Another day, another case of the European Commission going after big tech for targeting minors. The bloc's regulators have probed Google for more information on a secret ad partnership with Meta that targeted Instagram ads at minors on YouTube, the Financial Times reports.

The Commission has yet to open a formal investigation, but is building on information it requested in October that includes internal chats, presentations, emails and more related to the YouTube ads. Google gathered this evidence during an internal probe codenamed "Tangerine Owl."

The FT first revealed in August that Google employees were using a work around to allow for ads directed at individuals under 18. This was a big no no as Google has long banned advertising targeting minors. However, these Google employees told Meta to push ads at a group called "unknown," as internal data found it had a large group of under 18s in it. The two companies teamed up with media agency Spark Foundry to launch a pilot ad program in Canada and then expanded to the US. The companies halted their plan to expand beyond the two countries and to include other Meta platforms following the public report.

This is not the first time Google and Meta have been in hot water for their ad practices. In 2022, the duo was the subject of antitrust investigations from the European Commission and the UK's Competition and Market Authority — however, both entities eventually closed their cases.