Apps bombarding young children with adverts, study claims

Young children are being exposed to a “Wild West” environment in which they are bombarded by advertising while using mobile apps, a study has found.

Some 95% of commonly downloaded applications – marketed at or played by children aged five and under on mobile devices and tablets – were found to be interrupted by pop-up video adverts, banners, and options to make in-app purchases.

Research into 135 free-to-use and paid-for apps by the the University of Michigan CS Mott Children’s Hospital, published in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, found almost all were targeted by advertisers.

The study found some of the adverts were deemed to be “distracting, misleading and not always age-appropriate”.

Senior author Jenny Radesky said: “With young children now using mobile devices on an average of one hour a day, it’s important to understand how this type of commercial exposure may impact children’s health and well-being.

“Our findings show that the early childhood app market is a Wild West, with a lot of apps appearing more focused on making money than the child’s play experience.

“This has important implications for advertising regulation, the ethics of child app design, as well as how parents discern which children’s apps are worth downloading.”

In-app purchases were present in a third of all apps, and in 41% of all free apps, while overt banner ads covering the sides or top and/or bottom of the screen during gameplay were also present in 17% of all apps and 27% of free apps.

Researchers also documented prompts within the apps to share information, most commonly asking players to share their progress or score on social media sites.

However, 17 of the apps reviewed requested phone permission, 11 asked for microphone permission, nine asked for camera permission and six requested location permission.

Authors said child consumer advocacy groups plan to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission about the study’s findings.