3 ms·

According to the site, ad targeting is allowed based on gender and age, but not race or religion, for example. All four of those categories were previously used

According to the site, ad targeting is allowed based on gender and age, but not race or religion, for example. All four of those categories were previously used to restrict voting and are now legally protected from voting discrimination. Why allow targeting some of them but not all? Either all should be disallowed (for the same reason that race, religion, etc are), or all should be allowed (on the reasoning that this is about choosing who to promote your message to, not in any way affecting who can vote or independently search about election issues--which is presumably why age and gender are allowed).

lazide 2y ago
Well, targeting works. Really well. Advertisers love it. It’s also why it gets banned when it gets used to hurt people too much.
aleph_minus_one 2y ago
> Why allow targeting some of them but not all? Either all should be disallowed (for the same reason that race, religion, etc are), or all should be allowed Easy: as already mentioned advertisers love targeting. On the other hand, considering the current sentiment in society allowing gender and age as targeting category causes much less of an outcry (or even shitstorm) than race and religion. So, to balance earning vs risk for reputation damage the first two categories are allowed for advertising targeting while the latter two are not.
s1artibartfast 2y ago
I see the sentiment often from people who want a categorically clear legal system. The answer is that these choices are often made taking into account real world situations. Not just theory. When different rights come into conflicts, the courts weigh them against each other, and take into account the magnitude of the real world impact. Ban all for a logical simplicity sounds appealing, but the courts frequently find that this would lead to a greater Injustice then mixed decisions.
zahlman 2y ago
Showing untargeted ads to children might be worse than showing them targeted ads.

lazide 2y ago

Well, targeting works. Really well. Advertisers love it. It’s also why it gets banned when it gets used to hurt people too much.

aleph_minus_one 2y ago

> Why allow targeting some of them but not all? Either all should be disallowed (for the same reason that race, religion, etc are), or all should be allowed Easy: as already mentioned advertisers love targeting. On the other hand, considering the current sentiment in society allowing gender and age as targeting category causes much less of an outcry (or even shitstorm) than race and religion. So, to balance earning vs risk for reputation damage the first two categories are allowed for advertising targeting while the latter two are not.

s1artibartfast 2y ago

I see the sentiment often from people who want a categorically clear legal system. The answer is that these choices are often made taking into account real world situations. Not just theory. When different rights come into conflicts, the courts weigh them against each other, and take into account the magnitude of the real world impact. Ban all for a logical simplicity sounds appealing, but the courts frequently find that this would lead to a greater Injustice then mixed decisions.

zahlman 2y ago

Showing untargeted ads to children might be worse than showing them targeted ads.