Social media firms gained $11B in ads from minors' engagement in 2022

Social media giants, including Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and Snapchat, collectively amassed nearly $11 billion in advertising revenue in 2022 from users under 18, according to a recent study based in the United States.

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The research team, led by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University, revealed that approximately 30-40% of the advertising revenue generated by Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube was attributed to young users. Notably, among users aged 12 and under, YouTube led in ad revenue with approximately $1 billion in 2022, while among those aged 13-17 years, Instagram generated the highest revenue of about $4 billion. TikTok derived $2 billion, and YouTube earned $1.2 billion from users aged 13-17 in the same period, suggesting significant financial incentives for these platforms to delay meaningful steps in protecting children from the potential harms of social media use.