Oops! Meta Accidentally Targeted Teens It’s Not Allowed To Have

Meta has withdrawn its own Instagram advertising campaign after it inadvertently promoted its services to users under the age of 16, the minimum age required by Australian law.

Australian users reported seeing ads referencing teenagers as young as 13.

The campaign include lines such as "Teens aged 13–15 with public accounts will be switched to private," "Teens under 16 need parental supervision," and "Teens will see content generally aligned with content ratings for ages 13+."

The language appeared to address an age group legally prohibited from using the platforms in Australia.

The campaign was intended to promote Meta's expanded parental supervision tools, which allow parents of 16 and 17-year-olds to monitor the interest categories shaping their teenagers' algorithmic feeds across Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and Meta Horizon.

A Meta spokesperson told AdNews the company was committed to complying with Australia's social media ban and said the ads themselves were appropriate for local audiences.

The problem, Meta said, lay in where they led.

"We've identified that the ads were inadvertently directing users to an information page intended for other markets," the spokesperson said.

"This was an error and does not reflect our product settings or policies in Australia. We immediately paused the campaign, are fixing the issue, and reviewing our processes to help prevent this from happening again."

Meta said the click-through links mistakenly directed Australian users to pages designed for markets where under-16 usage is permitted, rather than to Australia-specific content.

The campaign has since been taken down and is pending internal review.

Source: Adnews