Social Media Companies Made $11 Billion From Ads Served to Minors in US: Harvard Study

Social media platforms made nearly $11 billion in ad revenue last year from under-18s in the United States, according to a Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health study published on Dec. 27, 2023.

The researchers found that Snapchat (41 percent) earned the highest share of overall 2022 ad revenue from users aged under 18, followed by TikTok (35 percent), YouTube (27 percent), and Instagram (16 percent). About $2 billion in ad revenue derived from users under the age of 12, with YouTube earning the most ad profit ($959.1 million), followed by Instagram ($801.1 million), and Facebook ($137.2 million).

The study found that Instagram earned the highest ad profit from users aged 13 to 17 amounting to $4 billion. TikTok generated $2 billion, and YouTube garnered $1.2 billion in ad revenue from this age group.

“Although social media platforms may claim that they can self-regulate their practices to reduce the harms to young people, they have yet to do so, and our study suggests they have overwhelming financial incentives to continue to delay taking meaningful steps to protect children,” Bryn Austin, senior author and a professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, said in a press release.

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