{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://trahan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2303", "Trahan, Markey and Castor Press Facebook on Misleading Targeted Ad Policies", "2021-11-22", "2021", "2021-11", "Democrat", "House", "MA", "Lori Trahan", "T000482", "trahan.house.gov", "trahan", "https://trahan.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx?DocumentTypeID=27", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, DC \u2013 Today, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03) and Congresswoman Kathy Castor (FL-14), members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee along with Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA), a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, wrote to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding answers in response to new research suggesting that the company continues to facilitate targeted advertising to teens based on young users\u2019 browsing history and preferences. The research comes after Facebook\u2019s July 2021 announcement that it would significantly limit the criteria by which advertisers may target teens on its platforms to age, location, and gender.\n\nIn her testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Facebook Global Head of Safety, Antigone Davis, reiterated that policy: \u201cWe have very limited advertising to young people. You can only actually now target a young person based on their gender, age, or location.\u201d However, the new research indicates Facebook itself targets ads to users under 18, using a machine learning system powered by users\u2019 personal data, including browsing history.\n\n\u201cFacebook\u2019s announcement that it would limit ad targeting to users under the age of 18 implicitly acknowledged the harms that targeted advertisements pose to young people, and Facebook explicitly stated it was committed to taking a \u2018more precautionary approach\u2019 in its advertising practices when it announced its policy change,\u201d the lawmakers wrote in their letter. \u201cUnfortunately, new research suggests that harmful advertising practices on Facebook continue.\u201d\n\nA copy of the letter can be found HERE.\n\nIn April, Congresswoman Trahan and Congresswoman Castor along with Senator Markey and Senator Blumenthal (D-CT) wrote to Zuckerberg regarding Facebook\u2019s announcement that the company was \u201cexploring\u201d plans to develop a version of Instagram for children and expressed concerns about Facebook\u2019s past failures to protect children on Facebook\u2019s Messenger Kids app. In May, after the company failed to make meaningful commitments to protect kids online, the lawmakers released a statement calling on Facebook to abandon its plans for the children\u2019s platform.\n\n###", 1, "2026-04-06T14:24:52Z", "2026-04-06T15:54:03Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://trahan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2303"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.083937007933855, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}