Facebook really wants to make money off of your kids

It’s no real secret that Facebook has become a ruthless entity where its users’ information is the product being sold to its advertisement customers. Now, it has become clear that the platform isn’t satisfied with its current user information and it wants to begin targeting children next.

Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal added to its scathing Facebook files with a report on how the company is targeting children. The report analyzes several internal company documents that refer to younger kids, between the ages of 10 and 12, as a “valuable but untapped audience.”

We know that Facebook makes its money by harvesting our information so it can sell better-targeted advertising. Since it’s federally illegal to collect information from users under the age of 13, the company isn’t necessarily missing out on revenue directly.

However, the platform does need a way to get people to join as soon as they turn old enough to monetize. In other words, Facebook is constantly looking for ways to attract younger kids, in hopes that they’ll join Facebook and Instagram as soon as they’re old enough to be monetized.

Over the years, Facebook has developed a team to study kids and figure out how they can be monetized. This has led to ideas like an Instagram specifically designed for kids. That idea was ultimately put on hold last week after it was ripped apart by social media users and advocacy groups alike.

Facebook will no doubt continue its research into how to monetize kids as soon as possible, especially as it loses popularity in younger people to newer apps like TikTok and Snapchat.

The dangers to kids on social media have certainly become apparent, but do we really expect Zuckerberg and Facebook to care? The platform has been taking advantage of its users for more than a decade now, and it’s become pretty clear that morals don’t play any part in Facebook’s business plan.

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