2023-12-28 03:50:29
Social media companies collectively earned more than $11 billion in advertising revenue from minors last year in the United States, according to a study from Harvard University’s TH Chan School of Public Health released Wednesday. .
The researchers said the findings show there is a need for the government to regulate social media, as companies that make money from children using their platforms have not meaningfully self-regulated. They noted that such regulations, as well as greater transparency from technology companies, could help alleviate harm to young people’s mental health and reduce potentially harmful advertising practices aimed at children and adolescents.
To get the revenue figure, researchers calculated the number of users under 18 on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube in 2022 based on population data from the US Census Bureau and in survey data from Common Sense Media and Pew Research. They then used data from the research company eMarketer, now called Insider Intelligence, and Qustodio, a parental control app, to estimate the advertising revenue of each platform in the United States in 2022 and the time children spent per day on each of them. After that, the researchers said they built a simulation model with that data to estimate the amount of advertising revenue the platforms earned from minors in the United States.
Researchers and policymakers have long focused on the negative effects of social media platforms, whose personalized algorithms can lead children to overuse them. This year, lawmakers in states including New York and Utah have introduced or passed bills to curb social media use among children, citing harm to young people’s mental health and other problems.
Meta, owner of Instagram and Facebook, has also been sued by dozens of states for its alleged contribution to the mental health crisis.
Taken from AP
Cover photo: Red educa
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