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European regulators are demanding more information from Google about a secret advertising partnership with Meta that circumvented the search company’s own rules on the treatment of minors online, prompting a formal investigation into the tech giant. It is increasingly likely that this will happen.
European Commission officials are investigating a series of advertising campaigns on YouTube promoting Instagram to teenagers.
In October, the commission’s regulators ordered lawyers for Google’s parent company Alphabet to review and collate data, presentations, internal chats and emails related to advertising campaigns, according to people familiar with the matter.
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This material was gathered during Google’s internal investigation into the incident, code-named “Tangerine Owl.” The information was provided to Brussels officials who are deciding whether to take action, the people said.
The commission declined to comment.
During the ad campaign, first revealed in an FT investigation published in August, Google staff helped Meta circumvent the search company’s policies on how to target online ads to minors.
Google prohibits the personalization of ads for teens, but Instagram’s campaign on YouTube intentionally pushed messages to a group of users labeled as “unknown” in the system. Google employees told Meta that they had internal data showing the group was skewed toward people under 18, and that it was a way to “hack” audience protection features within the system.
Spark Foundry, a subsidiary of French advertising giant Publicis, used this information to launch a successful pilot marketing program in Canada. The campaign was then expanded to the US earlier this year and is expected to roll out around the world and to other meta apps, including Facebook. However, the project was canceled after the FT report.
Google has since held virtual town halls for advertising staff, asking them to review the company’s policies and confirm that they understand and accept their responsibilities, the people said. It also prohibits targeting “unknown” groups based on demographics, with the youngest age group being 18 to 24.
Google said in a statement: “The safeguards we need to protect teens, such as prohibiting ad personalization, are industry-leading and will continue to work.” “We held updated internal training to ensure our sales team was aware of our policies and technical protections.”
Google has also become more cautious about doing business with Meta, particularly in campaigns aimed at promoting the social media app to younger users. A planned quarterly business review with Big Tech rival Spark Foundry will be postponed in late summer as the company investigates the FT report, people said. It was suddenly canceled.
But since Meta is such a large advertiser and Google is so dominant in online advertising, the two are still working on multiple Instagram and Facebook campaigns on various platforms, including YouTube. .
Both companies are facing increasing pressure from politicians and regulators. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was summoned to Congress in January to apologize to the families of children who were victims of sexual exploitation and abuse on Meta’s platform.
Google recently lost two major antitrust lawsuits brought against its app store and search businesses. The US Department of Justice has asked a judge to force Alphabet to sell its Chrome web browser and share more user search and advertising data to break its illegal monopoly in these areas.
Last month, a Virginia court heard closing arguments in a third antitrust case against Alphabet Inc.’s digital advertising business, an automated marketplace that buys, sells and posts video and image ads online. The presiding judge said he aims to issue a verdict by the end of the year.
