A new report by the Wall Street Journal reveals that as the ads keep going, teens using the site are getting more exposed to inappropriate, explicit ads with some of their photos being displayed on adult men sites.
The social networking giant recently announced that despite the decrease in the number of its teen users, it continued to soar high in the business. Its earnings report showed that it surprisingly surpassed the company's and its investors' expectations, thus proving that it can still generate more revenue from each its users.
Facebook reported that 53 percent of the total Q4 revenue came from the mobile advertising. It has also taken 18 percent of the $16.7 billion global mobile-advertising market in 2013, said market research company eMarketer.
WSJ was able to interview Dawn Lowder, mother of the 14-year-old teen Erica from Indianapolis, who was so upset that Facebook approved different "lifestyle apps" that published her daughter's photo on an adult online site. She said, "How can Facebook say here's how we're going to protect your kids, then sell all these ads to weird apps and sites that open kids up to terrible things?"
Erica clicked the Ilikeq: Who do you like? ad. The app allows users to like people, see who likes them, and collect more likes The ad is linked to its actual close-to-dating website where people can see photos of those who granted access and establish connections between younger and older users.
The social networking site argued that the ad showed up on the teen page because they did not categorize Ilikeq as a dating site. Ilikeq co-founder Olda Neuberger, explained in an email to WSJ that it is not really a dating site but admitted that they should have set an age limit to ensure minors don't get access which they already did after the report.
Facebook, on the other hand, said that they are trying their best to improve the quality of the ads and ensure that prohibited ads are not being displayed to users who are not supposed to see them according to the profile. It can take drastic measures like taking down the advertiser's account if it violates the site's policies. But then again, the company also mentioned that "no system is perfect."
