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If you ignore the section which prohibits overt (and blatantly illegal) discrimination then the section which applies to this case is the "intention to discrimi
by UncleEntity 8y ago
If you ignore the section which prohibits overt (and blatantly illegal) discrimination then the section which applies to this case is the "intention to discriminate" clause which requires Facebook to determine intent behind the targeting of the advertisements.
And, as we all know, nobody wants Facebook to be the Thought Police. Umm, well...most people don't want Facebook to be the Thought Police but that's besides the point.
Now (if HUD's arguments are valid) Facebook needs to determine if a landlord trying to run an efficient ad campaign or is making sure the "wrong kind of people" don't apply to be tenants. Either way the burden of proof is on Facebook since they are directly accountable for the thought processes of a third party simply by giving them the ability to discriminate against prospective tenants while (one would hope) not intending to discriminate against anyone themselves.
So, yes, I'm sticking by my original opinion that it isn't Facebook's responsibility to do HUD's job of rooting out the bad actors.
- MBCook 8y ago> If you ignore the section which prohibits overt (and blatantly illegal) discrimination Why should we ignore it? It sounds like Facebook allows you to use those exact things to target your ad. Thus the problem.
- UncleEntity 8y agoBecause it applies to cases like "only WASP's need apply" and is clearly not what HUD is concerned with here. Absolutely nobody is arguing that Facebook isn't liable in such a case because it's clearly spelled out in the letter of the law.
- MBCook 8y agoI would think HUD would be very concerned about the fact you can run a housing ad and choose “don’t show the black people“. Yes it’s blatant discrimination, and that’s exactly the problem. The ability to say “don’t show to fans of Soulja Boy“ could certainly be a big problem, and I’m sure they might look into that too, but the first one is still there.