Harvard University research team: “We do not take measures to protect youth for advertising profits”
Six major social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, and The research results are out.
According to the Associated Press on the 27th (local time), a research team at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Public Health analyzed the time youth use the six major social media platforms and the advertising revenue of each platform in the United States to determine how much advertising revenue was generated from youth. published a thesis.
The results of this study are the first to analyze youth’s social media usage time and the operator’s annual advertising revenue together. The research team explains that government regulation of indiscriminate advertising on social media platforms targeting young people is necessary.
Based on population data collected from the U.S. Census and survey data from several market research companies, the research team analyzed the advertising revenue of major social media platforms in the United States in 2022 and the time youth spend on social media per day.
As a result, the platform that generated the most advertising revenue from users under the age of 12 was YouTube, which earned $959.1 million (about 1.23 trillion won). Instagram followed with $811.1 million (about 1.045 trillion won), and Facebook followed with $137.2 million (about 176.6 billion won).
On the other hand, Instagram generated the most advertising revenue from users aged 13 to 17, at $4 billion (approximately 5.15 trillion won), with TikTok and YouTube taking second and third place, respectively.
“Social media platforms claim they can regulate themselves to reduce mental health harm to young people, but they have not yet done so,” said Bryn Austin, a professor of social sciences at Harvard University and senior author of the study. “We will continue to postpone youth protection measures for the sake of advertising revenue,” he said.
In addition, the research team stated in the paper, “School-age children and adolescents can recognize advertisements, but they are often unable to properly filter out advertisements when exposed to them through frequently used social media or famous influencers.”
As concerns grow about the mental health of young people, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed sweeping changes to laws that would govern how operators track young users and serve ads to them. Proposed changes include turning off personalized advertising by default for child users under 13 and limiting news notifications.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.