6 ms·

Facebook Quietly Ends Racial Ad Profiling – Revue

14 points by lladnar 6y ago

ponker 6y ago
So now advertisers will need to use “people who like Fetty Wap” and “people who like sailing” as proxies.
- chillacy 6y ago
  Isn't that better? Like if you're selling sailing equipment, I can't imagine that excluding <ethnicity> possibly make things better for those people who also happen to like sailing.
  - alain_gilbert 6y ago
    If I sell sunscreen, how do I target people who get sunburns ? (don't take me too seriously)
  - d8ie3ueuru 6y ago
    This assumes a product has no legitimate reason to be racially targeted. There aren't a lot of white people buying afro pick combs.
    - viraptor 6y ago
      You can still target for afro though. Which may be better than targeting racially where afro doesn't apply for majority anyway.
perplexed 6y ago
I assume you can still target by age and gender? If so, why should race be treated any differently?
- badrabbit 6y ago
  Because race is not a biological trait. Age and gender cause reliable differences in how people behave and respond to stimuli. Race is a made up social class system. while ethnicity is biological, it is up to individuals to adhere to ethnic culutural norms that can be used to predict how they respond to ads. In other words, there are no black hormones or organs/parts of brain that develop only on people of specific ethnicities. But all of that aside, even age and gender should not be used unless that information was explicitly shared by the user to be used for targeted advertising against them.
  - lowdose 6y ago
    > Because race is not a biological trait. Is that only in humans?
    - badrabbit 6y ago
      I believe in animal kingdom taxonomy,race is not a concept. There are species of course (homosapien for humans). Perhaps animal societies secretly have a concept of race to divide and rule each other? Doubt it.
- chillacy 6y ago
  Race and ethnicity are also hyperlocal concepts. The specific groupings that are used in America are a product of American history more than any sort of universal truth. It doesn't mesh well for a global advertising product.

14 points by lladnar 6y ago

ponker 6y ago

So now advertisers will need to use “people who like Fetty Wap” and “people who like sailing” as proxies.

chillacy 6y ago
Isn't that better? Like if you're selling sailing equipment, I can't imagine that excluding <ethnicity> possibly make things better for those people who also happen to like sailing.
- alain_gilbert 6y ago
  If I sell sunscreen, how do I target people who get sunburns ? (don't take me too seriously)
- d8ie3ueuru 6y ago
  This assumes a product has no legitimate reason to be racially targeted. There aren't a lot of white people buying afro pick combs.
  - viraptor 6y ago
    You can still target for afro though. Which may be better than targeting racially where afro doesn't apply for majority anyway.

perplexed 6y ago

I assume you can still target by age and gender? If so, why should race be treated any differently?

badrabbit 6y ago
Because race is not a biological trait. Age and gender cause reliable differences in how people behave and respond to stimuli. Race is a made up social class system. while ethnicity is biological, it is up to individuals to adhere to ethnic culutural norms that can be used to predict how they respond to ads. In other words, there are no black hormones or organs/parts of brain that develop only on people of specific ethnicities. But all of that aside, even age and gender should not be used unless that information was explicitly shared by the user to be used for targeted advertising against them.
- lowdose 6y ago
  > Because race is not a biological trait. Is that only in humans?
  - badrabbit 6y ago
    I believe in animal kingdom taxonomy,race is not a concept. There are species of course (homosapien for humans). Perhaps animal societies secretly have a concept of race to divide and rule each other? Doubt it.
chillacy 6y ago
Race and ethnicity are also hyperlocal concepts. The specific groupings that are used in America are a product of American history more than any sort of universal truth. It doesn't mesh well for a global advertising product.