5 ms·

Facebook doesn't have to allow you to target demographics. If you create an ad, mark it as type "housing", then things like race and wealth shouldn't be an opt

Facebook doesn't have to allow you to target demographics. If you create an ad, mark it as type "housing", then things like race and wealth shouldn't be an option to target. It's illegal. Using your analogy, when you buy a hammer you don't tell the cashier it's for murder.

bluedino 8y ago
You're targeting a demographic with every type of ad. Sure, the radio station doesn't have checkboxes of who hears your ad, you just pick the radio station you want your target to be listening too. Same goes for billboards. Suburbs? Subway? The highway 2 towns over? Print media, TV time...the list goes on.
- bilbo0s 8y ago
  Well, they're free to litigate that question if they think it will help them. That's the beauty of our legal system.
- whatok 8y ago
  The sticking point is that those advertisements are made to the public and everyone has relatively the same equal access to them. Targeted advertisements through social media completely remove any semblance of equal access.
- enraged_camel 8y ago
  You are looking at it from the wrong perspective. Laws don't have to be perfect. But they have to be enforceable.
tzs 8y ago
As far as I can see neither Federal fair housing rules nor any state fair housing rules would cover wealth. Federal covers race, color, religion, national origin, sex, family status, and disability. Many states add more categories to those protected classes. 13 states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Wisconsin) and DC consider "source of income" a basis for a protected class, and so you probably couldn't target ads in those states based on that, but I don't see anything that would cover wealth level rather than wealth source. (Neat site with a nice way to look up which state protects what [1]) Since you can have a wealth requirement for renting (e.g., you can require that the person be able to afford the rent), there wouldn't be much point in prohibiting targeting based on that. [1] http://lawatlas.org/datasets/state-fair-housing-protections-1498143743 http://lawatlas.org/datasets/state-fair-housing-protections-...

bluedino 8y ago

You're targeting a demographic with every type of ad. Sure, the radio station doesn't have checkboxes of who hears your ad, you just pick the radio station you want your target to be listening too. Same goes for billboards. Suburbs? Subway? The highway 2 towns over? Print media, TV time...the list goes on.

bilbo0s 8y ago
Well, they're free to litigate that question if they think it will help them. That's the beauty of our legal system.
whatok 8y ago
The sticking point is that those advertisements are made to the public and everyone has relatively the same equal access to them. Targeted advertisements through social media completely remove any semblance of equal access.
enraged_camel 8y ago
You are looking at it from the wrong perspective. Laws don't have to be perfect. But they have to be enforceable.

tzs 8y ago

As far as I can see neither Federal fair housing rules nor any state fair housing rules would cover wealth. Federal covers race, color, religion, national origin, sex, family status, and disability. Many states add more categories to those protected classes. 13 states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Wisconsin) and DC consider "source of income" a basis for a protected class, and so you probably couldn't target ads in those states based on that, but I don't see anything that would cover wealth level rather than wealth source. (Neat site with a nice way to look up which state protects what [1]) Since you can have a wealth requirement for renting (e.g., you can require that the person be able to afford the rent), there wouldn't be much point in prohibiting targeting based on that. [1] http://lawatlas.org/datasets/state-fair-housing-protections-1498143743 http://lawatlas.org/datasets/state-fair-housing-protections-...