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There are many legal reasons to want to limit ads to the elderly. If you're selling a product that disproportionately is bought by elderly people, such as adult

by Sephr 9y ago

There are many legal reasons to want to limit ads to the elderly. If you're selling a product that disproportionately is bought by elderly people, such as adult diapers, would you prefer to show everyone the ad, or save money and only target the ad to the elderly? Edit: I'm referring to the Facebook ads platform in general, and not specifically job ads. I agree that job ads shouldn't have the option to target age groups.

mulmen 9y ago
I think you can do that. What is not allowed is discriminating against employment seekers over the age of 40. I believe this means it is actually ok to discriminate against employment seekers under the age of 40 and also to discriminate against people over the age of 40 for purposes other than employment, including selling diapers. In this case "ok" means "not made illegal by this law". What's important here though is that Facebook isn't selling diaper ads, they're selling job ads and so they are discriminating against a protected class.
- jjeaff 9y ago
  So would it also be illegal to advertise your job positions in teen Vogue but NOT in AARP magazine? It doesn't seem much different in this case. Bit methods target young people.
  - mulmen 9y ago
    No of course not. Anyone can buy either magazine. Those two examples are completely different. In the magazine case you are taking out an advertisement with no ability to discriminate. In the Facebook case there is a specific setting based on age to show job ads. Job seekers over the age of 40 are protected so this is discrimination against a protected class. The problem is not that young people were targeted, the problem is that those over 40 were not.
    - cutcss 9y ago
      You say it like it is that simple to fix; they could ask for photo in the curriculum and just discard the few that looks old, -after targeting job ads on pages that are disproportionaly "liked" by the age range they want- The only true way to solve this is to force by law to hire older people (e.g. 30% of your workforce must be over 40); otherwise all this proxies like trying to regulate third-party ads and else its just an endless cat-and-mouse game.
      - mattmanser 9y ago
        It is an easy fix. Job ads have no age options allowed. Fixed.
        wils1245 9y ago
        And the next day, those age-based ads will be replaced by other user attributes closely correlated with age. A US Supreme Court case comes to mind, Batson v Kentucky: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batson_v._Kentucky https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batson_v._Kentucky In which it became illegal to dismiss a juror based on race. A simple, sensible fix, which most agree did very little to stop race based discrimination from juries. Doing so just became a bit more complicated.
        cutcss 9y ago
        Nope; you can target pages that are liked only by young people (e.g. Snapchat) and then just discard the few old people manually.

by Sephr 9y ago

mulmen 9y ago

I think you can do that. What is not allowed is discriminating against employment seekers over the age of 40. I believe this means it is actually ok to discriminate against employment seekers under the age of 40 and also to discriminate against people over the age of 40 for purposes other than employment, including selling diapers. In this case "ok" means "not made illegal by this law". What's important here though is that Facebook isn't selling diaper ads, they're selling job ads and so they are discriminating against a protected class.

jjeaff 9y ago
So would it also be illegal to advertise your job positions in teen Vogue but NOT in AARP magazine? It doesn't seem much different in this case. Bit methods target young people.
- mulmen 9y ago
  No of course not. Anyone can buy either magazine. Those two examples are completely different. In the magazine case you are taking out an advertisement with no ability to discriminate. In the Facebook case there is a specific setting based on age to show job ads. Job seekers over the age of 40 are protected so this is discrimination against a protected class. The problem is not that young people were targeted, the problem is that those over 40 were not.
  - cutcss 9y ago
    You say it like it is that simple to fix; they could ask for photo in the curriculum and just discard the few that looks old, -after targeting job ads on pages that are disproportionaly "liked" by the age range they want- The only true way to solve this is to force by law to hire older people (e.g. 30% of your workforce must be over 40); otherwise all this proxies like trying to regulate third-party ads and else its just an endless cat-and-mouse game.
    - mattmanser 9y ago
      It is an easy fix. Job ads have no age options allowed. Fixed.
      - wils1245 9y ago
        And the next day, those age-based ads will be replaced by other user attributes closely correlated with age. A US Supreme Court case comes to mind, Batson v Kentucky: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batson_v._Kentucky https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batson_v._Kentucky In which it became illegal to dismiss a juror based on race. A simple, sensible fix, which most agree did very little to stop race based discrimination from juries. Doing so just became a bit more complicated.
      - cutcss 9y ago
        Nope; you can target pages that are liked only by young people (e.g. Snapchat) and then just discard the few old people manually.