Vulnerable Australians at high risk of gambling and alcohol problems are being ‘force-fed’ Facebook ads for that content, with experts claiming they are being targeted by social media marketing.
A study by researchers at the University of Queensland found that gambling and alcohol advertisements can be shown many times in a short period of time to people at high risk of gambling or alcohol-related harm.
“This report is the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we know about how alcohol and gambling companies collect and use people’s data to then target them with their harmful and addictive products,” said Dr Giselle Newton, the lead researcher at the report.
“People trying to reduce their alcohol consumption or gambling do not want to be targeted with advertisements selling these products, and may find it difficult to escape these advertisements when on social media platforms such as Facebook.”
The study, funded by VicHealth and the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (Fare), recruited 10 people who had experienced – or were at risk of experiencing – alcohol and gambling products. Study participants included people at high risk for alcohol use, risky gambling and people trying to reduce their use of those products or recover from such harm.
It revealed that these ten people had been ‘tagged’ by Facebook with 89 different alcohol and gambling-related interests, allowing alcohol and gambling companies to target their ads to them. The investigation also found that 201 alcohol companies and 63 gambling companies had in turn shared data about those people with Facebook, enabling further ad targeting.
Advertisers share information with platforms like Facebook about their users, including when someone clicks on a website or uses an app, to further target ads.
According to the report, participants were aware that their browsing history could be used to target them online advertisements, but were “particularly alarmed to learn that alcohol and gambling companies were sharing their data with Facebook to target them.”
Some participants said there should be options to opt out of online alcohol or gambling advertisements.
The federal government is under pressure to deliver its long-awaited response to a report by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy, which recommended a complete ban on online gambling advertisements. The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has tempered expectations of a full advertising ban, with the government’s response expected by the end of the year.
The University of Queensland study found that users were tagged with more than a dozen alcohol-related advertising interests, and at times more than 100 alcohol companies shared data about them. A person who had been trying to reduce his alcohol consumption for years was found to have shared data about him by 95 alcohol companies.
“Participants did not want to be profiled and targeted in this way and indicated that it may be impossible to escape these advertisements when on social media,” the report’s authors wrote.
“They shared the frustration that current platform options do not allow them to prevent these ads from being targeted to them.”
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A young woman trying to cut back on high alcohol consumption discovered that a quarter of the advertisements she saw on Facebook were related to alcohol, including pubs, merchandise or events related to alcohol consumption. She was tagged with 25 alcohol advertising interests, including ‘beer’, ‘wine’ and ‘rum’, and 123 alcohol companies had shared data about her with Facebook, including pubs, bottle shops and alcohol brands.
A woman who tried to reduce her risky gambling behavior discovered she had been tagged with 18 alcohol and gambling interests, including ‘casino’, ‘lottery’ and ‘Keno’, while 14 gambling companies had uploaded data about her, including bookmakers and lotteries. A man in his early 20s, trying to reduce his risky gambling activities, discovered that he had been tagged with 41 gambling advertising interests, including sports bookmakers and ‘blackjack’, and that his data had been uploaded by 52 gambling companies, such as sportsbooks. agencies.
Martin Thomas, chief executive of the Alliance for Gambling Reform – which campaigns for restrictions on gambling advertising – claimed the report “highlighted predatory marketing practices by gambling companies, and how platforms like Facebook enable them”.
“Australians expect the federal government to do more to ensure people most at risk are not constantly bombarded with advertisements for harmful and addictive products,” he said.
Caterina Giorgi, CEO of Fare, said people should not be targeted with ads “based on their vulnerabilities”.
“It is worrying to see alcohol, gambling and social media companies deliberately preying on people most vulnerable to harm,” she said.
“We call on the federal government to implement protections that put the health and well-being of families and communities above the interests of alcohol and gambling companies.”