5 ms·

This complaint seems like its shooting itself in the foot - discrimination isn't inherently bad. When you hire, you discriminate based on ability. When you date

This complaint seems like its shooting itself in the foot - discrimination isn't inherently bad. When you hire, you discriminate based on ability. When you date, you discriminate in a number of ways like beauty, personality, etc. If you're selling ads for wheelchairs you want to discriminate for people with disabilities. If your houses aren't wheelchair accessible, you want your ads to discriminate against people with disabilities. If there are "majority-minority zip codes" then maybe advertising against the demographic is a waste of your time and money. The idea that we should operate without discrimination is a toothless platitude with little bearing on reality. It is not Facebooks responsibility to change reality because they are able to accurately quantify and qualify it's existence, and sell ads based on their findings.

deviationblue 8y ago
The day 'discrimination' happens to you, you'll sing a different tune.
james-mcelwain 8y ago
It is, however, Facebook's obligation to abide by the law, particularly 50 year old laws with decades of settled case law.
- dennisgorelik 8y ago
  The law is against publishing discriminatory ads (discriminatory wordings that encouraged racial hate). Facebook ad audience filtering -- is a very different tool.
MBCook 8y ago
That’s a straw man. This case isn’t “no one can discriminate with ads”. It’s “no one can discriminate ILLEGALY with THIS TYPE of ad”.
jogjayr 8y ago
The law finds the combination of "housing ad" and "discriminatory targeting" to be illegal. You can do discriminatory targeting when you're selling wheelchairs or other products. You can post housing ads. You just can't do both.
brandon272 8y ago
> When you hire, you discriminate based on ability Yes, but not on race, gender, income, sexual orientation, etc.
CydeWeys 8y ago
You might want to look into what the ADA requires about building accommodations for handicapped accessibility. Hint: You aren't compliant just by throwing up your hands and saying "We aren't accessible, don't bother", especially not for commercial real estate. I.e. you can't simply discriminate against handicapped people, which is the problem that necessitated the passing of the law in the first place. Even residential real estate has to follow a bunch of codes though, like secure railings on all stairways for starters.

deviationblue 8y ago

The day 'discrimination' happens to you, you'll sing a different tune.

james-mcelwain 8y ago

It is, however, Facebook's obligation to abide by the law, particularly 50 year old laws with decades of settled case law.

dennisgorelik 8y ago
The law is against publishing discriminatory ads (discriminatory wordings that encouraged racial hate). Facebook ad audience filtering -- is a very different tool.

MBCook 8y ago

That’s a straw man. This case isn’t “no one can discriminate with ads”. It’s “no one can discriminate ILLEGALY with THIS TYPE of ad”.

jogjayr 8y ago

The law finds the combination of "housing ad" and "discriminatory targeting" to be illegal. You can do discriminatory targeting when you're selling wheelchairs or other products. You can post housing ads. You just can't do both.

brandon272 8y ago

> When you hire, you discriminate based on ability Yes, but not on race, gender, income, sexual orientation, etc.

CydeWeys 8y ago

You might want to look into what the ADA requires about building accommodations for handicapped accessibility. Hint: You aren't compliant just by throwing up your hands and saying "We aren't accessible, don't bother", especially not for commercial real estate. I.e. you can't simply discriminate against handicapped people, which is the problem that necessitated the passing of the law in the first place. Even residential real estate has to follow a bunch of codes though, like secure railings on all stairways for starters.