Facebook and Instagram targeting underage teens with alcohol ads every two minutes

A disturbing new report has found how social media giants Facebook and Instagram are targeting underage teenagers exposing them to potential harm.

Young Australians are being bombarded with alcohol advertisements on social media every 2 minutes and 43 seconds, in a dangerous practice that is encouraging them to drink.

And, disturbingly, many of the ads on Facebook and Instagram are targeting teenagers under the legal drinking age.

A new study by University of Queensland (UQ) researchers also found the alcohol was being offered direct to their door, via home delivery.

The stark results come after News Corp Australia called on the federal government to raise the age limit at which children can access social media to 16 as part of a national campaign, Let Them Be Kids.

Young Australians are being bombarded with alcohol advertisements on social media every 2 minutes and 43 seconds

Experts are calling on for tougher age restrictions on social media.

The UQ researchers also want tougher age restrictions for social media users.

“More needs to be done to ensure the appropriate restrictions are put in place to protect potentially vulnerable populations such as young adults,” Associate Professor Gary Chung Kai Chan said.

UQ researchers asked 125 university students aged 17-25 to scroll through their Instagram and Facebook accounts for 30 minutes and to screenshot alcohol advertisements.

“The results were confronting – 71 students, some under the Australian legal drinking age of 18, were exposed to 796 alcohol ads across the two platforms within that half an hour,” PhD candidate Brienna Rutherford said.

“I wasn’t expecting it to be as frequent.”

More than seven in 10 of the ads promoted home delivery or sales incentives such as samples or bonuses to encourage people to buy alcohol, the article published in Drug and Alcohol Review revealed.

“These themes pose the risk of increased problem use, greater frequency of use and increased high-risk behaviours by increasing the availability of alcohol to consumers,” the research paper warned.

One in four of the ads on Facebook promoted “Binge Culture” and encouraged bulk purchases of alcohol the study found.

“Being exposed to alcohol advertisements through online platforms can lead to an increase in youth consumption, a greater likelihood of initiating drinking at a younger age and riskier drinking patterns,” the paper said.

The researchers said a single Facebook advertisement was expected to reach up to 931 million viewers and it is “not surprising” 39 per cent of Australian youths (12–17 years) reported social media exposure to alcohol advertising in a single month.

Alcohol advertising on social media. Supplied

The UQ report follows a Deakin University study released earlier this week that found children aged 14-17 were being bombarded with up to 14 ads for alcohol on social media per day as well as ads for junk food and gambling.

Meta’s advertising policy states that “Advertisers can run ads that promote or reference alcohol as long as they: Follow the targeting requirements for the location of the audience, don’t target people under the age of 18”

“The study definitely shows they aren’t implementing the age restrictions effectively,” Ms Rutherford said.

Meta was contacted for comment.