Facebook Accused by HUD of Housing Bias Over Use of Targeted Ads
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Re: Facebook Accused by HUD of Housing Bias Over Use of Targeted Ads
#2Hot on the heels of their announcement yesterday. The irony is sweet
Re: Facebook Accused by HUD of Housing Bias Over Use of Targeted Ads
#3They were accused before.
I thought this was old news. Weren't they being accused of showing certain results to a certain demographic because the advertisers got to call the shots on who saw the ads?
This is them getting charged. I think there is a distinction. Now lawyers are involved.
Re: Facebook Accused by HUD of Housing Bias Over Use of Targeted Ads
#4What we need is a law to make all advertisements and their targeting criteria publicly listed. It will make finding out about such problems much easier.
Re: Facebook Accused by HUD of Housing Bias Over Use of Targeted Ads
#5They were accused before. I thought this was old news. Weren't they being accused of showing certain results to a certain demographic because the advertisers got to call the shots on who saw the ads? This is them getting charged. I think there is a distinction. Now lawyers are involved.
That's fine for some things. E.g. showing an ad for specific hair care products to black people.
Not OK for housing/rental ads, credit/mortgage, etc. Facebook should have known better from the start and never enabled that kind of targeting for those types of ads.
Re: Facebook Accused by HUD of Housing Bias Over Use of Targeted Ads
#6Facebook ads in the residential real estate space absolutely allow violation of the 1968 Fair Housing Act on the part of real estate agents, sellers, marketers and brokers. The mechanism of FB ad targeting inherently grants permission to exclude groups from ad targeting by way of discriminating on the basis of demographic detail. The FHA was passed to redress the widespread and normalized practices of racial and socioeconomic exclusion from home ownership, and as such FB's practice is a major step backwards in fairness and transparency for persons participating in housing markets.
Does anybody know if FB's practice has been attacked in court sooner than this?
Re: Facebook Accused by HUD of Housing Bias Over Use of Targeted Ads
#7They were accused before. I thought this was old news. Weren't they being accused of showing certain results to a certain demographic because the advertisers got to call the shots on who saw the ads? This is them getting charged. I think there is a distinction. Now lawyers are involved.
That's fine for some things. E.g. showing an ad for specific hair care products to black people. Not OK for housing/rental ads, credit/mortgage, etc. Facebook should have known better from the start and never enabled that kind of targeting for those types of ads.
The thing its not a new law. Its been around for 50 something years. I remember they stressed this in American history and it was on the AP test too.
Re: Facebook Accused by HUD of Housing Bias Over Use of Targeted Ads
#8They were accused before. I thought this was old news. Weren't they being accused of showing certain results to a certain demographic because the advertisers got to call the shots on who saw the ads? This is them getting charged. I think there is a distinction. Now lawyers are involved.
That's fine for some things. E.g. showing an ad for specific hair care products to black people. Not OK for housing/rental ads, credit/mortgage, etc. Facebook should have known better from the start and never enabled that kind of targeting for those types of ads.
Oh I really agree. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
I was just saying the headline sounds like old news when it’s not.
Re: Facebook Accused by HUD of Housing Bias Over Use of Targeted Ads
#9It's important to keep in mind that FaceBook is an enterprise founded by an individual who appears to have many of the traits of sociopathy, and that an overwhelming amount of shady, anti-privacy, socially-destructive, and downright exploitative behavior has been credibly attributed to them over the years. The second sentence of TFA claims that the HUD's opinion of FaceBook is that the company "...enables and encourages discrimination based on things like race and religion, as well as sex, by restricting who can see housing-related ads on its platforms and across the Internet." This should come as no surprise from a company with the kind of track record that FaceBook has; the company's founding purpose was, after all, to judge people based on superficial traits.
Rot of this kind, when located in the head of an organization or creature, does not go away easily. It has been obvious for some time now that the culture in the leadership echelons of FaceBook is deeply amoral and disinterested in societal health. Although it's a very touchy subject (especially around tech sites), I think there's a strong justification to start really questioning whether or not a person who is interested in the health of society can continue working for FaceBook.
Re: Facebook Accused by HUD of Housing Bias Over Use of Targeted Ads
#10I am not sure I understand the way Fair Housing Act is enforced. Facebook allows ads targeting. This is how it earns money. Apparently some people decided that they want to advertise houses to white Christians population, which is illegal in the USA - shouldn't be HUD after those who configured such criteria, not Facebook?
Facebook provided only a tool. Nobody is after hardware store because a hammer bought there was used to kill someone.