One hour equals 50¢. Is social media fuelling your shopping addiction?

October 6, 2026 — 12:00pm

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Did you know that every time you open social media, thousands of companies are bidding for your attention? Literally.

They are bidding in auctions to pay for eyeball time, paying per view for you to see their product, with its slick marketing campaign and shiny wrapping.

For every one hour of scrolling on social media, companies can spend up to 50¢ just on you. It may not sound like much, but that adds up to nearly $6 billion being spent on social media advertising each year. That’s almost 10 per cent of what our nation spends on defence.

To ensure they aren’t accidentally marketing aged care to teenagers or schoolies tickets to pensioners, the tech companies improve their marketing effectiveness by making it their business to know about you.

This is how they actually make money. Every like, search, click and purchase becomes another clue about what you might buy next.

Companies are bidding in auctions to pay for eyeball time, paying per view for you to see their product, with its slick marketing campaign and shiny wrapping.

When I checked the “Your algorithm” page on Instagram, it........

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