Facebook has initiated a new policy for advertisers
targeting housing, employment and credit card offers in the United States: you
can no longer use age, zip code, or gender to target your ads. This applies to Facebook,
Facebook Messenger, and Instagram.
This policy change isn’t entirely out of the goodness of
their heart, it’s a result of a lawsuit settled with the ACLU, NFHA, and CWA.
These groups felt that Facebook was allowing discriminatory practices in their
advertising. Detailed targeting will still be allowed in certain categories and
for protected classes.
Additionally, not only did they announce that these
categories can no longer be used, but they are preparing to launch a tool that
will allow all users to search for ads in these categories on the various
platforms.
This kind of change is absolutely critical in removing
biases and promulgating injustice. The ethics of advertising are certainly at
play here – by being targeted so specifically, how much are we lifting up those
who are already wealthy or supported by society and how much are we keeping
down those who are not?
No comments:
Post a Comment