United States v. Google/Findings of Fact/Section 5C
- C. Social Media Ads
206. Social media advertisements are essentially display ads that are integrated into a social media feed. See id. at 5392:3–5393:9 (Jerath); id. at 3839:23–3840:2 (Lowcock); van der Kooi Dep. Tr. at 260:21–261:2.
207. One of the largest providers of social media ads is Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram. The bulk of Facebook’s social media ads are not considered search ads, although “a very small percentage” do qualify. Tr. at 8772:13-16 (Israel); id. at 458:4-5 (Varian). Facebook has roughly twice as many advertisers as Google. Id. at 1407:4-11 (Dischler). Other social media channels include TikTok, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Pinterest. Id. at 4840:23-25, 4860:6-13 (Lim).
208. Social media users spend a significant amount of time engaging with the platform, which can provide a greater opportunity for advertisers to engage with potential customers. Id. at 1407:23–1408:20 (Dischler). Advertisers use social ads “[m]ainly [for] awareness, engagement, and, in some instances, acquisition” where possible. Id. at 4841:9-10, 4860:15-22 (Lim). Social media ads have “a distinctly different role . . . than paid search” ads. Id. at 4841:11-12 (Lim); see also infra Section V.D.
209. Because social media ads are not displayed in response to a query, social media platforms rely on various other signals of a user’s intent to determine which ads to display. Tr. at 1369:18–1370:1 (Dischler) (noting that Facebook’s ads do not use keywords). Those include accounts or channels the user follows, the length of engagement, user clicks on products shown on the feed, etc. Id. at 1418:4-7 (Dischler).
210. Social media is a growing destination for advertisers. Meta has been wildly successful in selling social ads on Facebook and Instagram. Between 2018 and 2021, for example, Meta’s ad revenue grew by about 150%. See UPX1019 at 530. And while TikTok’s growth as an ad platform is in its infancy, evidence suggests that it may be particularly well-suited for targeting younger demographics. DX241 at .010 (“Nearly 50% of Gen Z say they use TikTok, IG for shopping, compared to just 15% of older users.”).
211. Google responded to the dramatic growth in social media ad spend with a new advertising product called “Discovery Ads,” or Demand Gen ads. Discovery ads are placed within a user’s feed on YouTube or Gmail. Tr. at 1196:15–1197:5 (Dischler); UPX33 at 117. Discovery ads were partially modeled after social media ads on Instagram and Facebook to compete with Meta’s offerings. Tr. at 1197:3-8 (Dischler); UPX29 at 541 (“Google has no direct competitor to Facebook’s ad offering[.]”). Discovery ads are not sold on SERPs. Tr. at 1196:22-24 (Dischler).