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Yeah, Google probably has no legal obligation to be an equal-opportunity ad platform however they really should be more careful when it comes to internal proced

Yeah, Google probably has no legal obligation to be an equal-opportunity ad platform however they really should be more careful when it comes to internal procedures like this. For instance whitelisting all potential candidates would have been a better idea. Besides, if they are so eager to make algorithms decide things like this only to be fixed later by a human, they should at least set better thresholds or include some heuristics to find correlations that might legitimize the increase in spending or clickthrough.

ctdonath 7y ago
However, Google does have legal liability for damages. If you hire me to do a task, and my ineptitude costs you a substantial sum, you can sue accordingly. Google users have reasonable expectations for monetization, and the shockingly arbitrary & rapid demonetization without notice nor recourse, usually during a narrow window of opportunity, certainly is actionable. Would be easy for Google to simply withhold payment subject to review, rather than deny payment altogether for the contended period.
- nradov 7y ago
  Ineptitude doesn't create any legal liability. And loss of potential revenue isn't a basis for establishing damages.
  - ctdonath 7y ago
    Methinks Google would have a hard time establishing, or even admitting to, ineptitude as a legal defense.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
einpoklum 7y ago
That's debatable. Once certain kind of social interaction happens exclusively on a single platform or one of a few platforms, it can be argued (IANAL) that these platforms, even if privately owned, now have a public function - and thus have a "dual nature", partly public and private (that's an actual formal term in some non-US legal systems).