Did Facebook let advertisers target teens with low self-esteem?

Facebook denies any wrongdoing, calls premise of The Australian’s report ‘misleading’

Everyone knows that Facebook customises the ads that you see on social media platforms based on your interests, likes, age, gender, location etc. But it seems that the social media giant might have pushed the envelope a bit too far this time.

According to the leaked documents obtained by The Australian, Facebook’s team in Australia was caught allegedly touting its ability to help advertisers target teens with low self-esteem and feeling “worthless” or “stupid”, claiming it can spot when teens “need a confidence boost”.



The leaked document reportedly shows the social media giant has the ability to point out when teens feel "useless," "stressed," "failure," "silly," "stupid," "worthless" and "defeated." This enables advertisers to find teenagers in some of their most vulnerable moments and target them with ads, which looks pretty exploitative in nature. For example, using Facebook’s algorithms, advertisers could find users interested in "working out and losing weight" and hit them with ads of health products.



However, Facebook has denied any wrongdoing calling the premise of The Australian’s report ‘misleading’.

"Facebook does not offer tools to target people based on their emotional state," read a statement issued by the social network. "The analysis done by an Australian research was intended to help marketers understand how people express themselves on Facebook. It was never used to target ads based on data that was anonymous and aggregated."

This is not the first time Facebook is in hot water due to its algorithmic advertising. Earlier in November, Facebook was forced to pull an ad tool that excluded people based on their "ethnic affinity".