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Facebook Lets Advertisers Exclude Users By Race (propublica.org)
schwit1 quotes a report from ProPublica: Imagine if, during the Jim Crow era, a newspaper offered advertisers the option of placing ads only in copies that went to white readers. That's basically what Facebook is doing nowadays. The ubiquitous social network not only allows advertisers to target users by their interests or background, it also gives advertisers the ability to exclude specific groups it calls "Ethnic Affinities." Ads that exclude people based on race, gender and other sensitive factors are prohibited by federal law in housing and employment. You can view a screenshot of a housing advertisement that ProPublica's Julia Angwin and Terry Parris Jr. purchased from Facebook's self-service advertising portal here. The report adds: "The ad we purchased was targeted to Facebook members who were house hunting and excluded anyone with an "affinity" for African-American, Asian-American or Hispanic people. (Here's the ad itself.) The Fair Housing Act of 1968 makes it illegal "to make, print, or publish, or cause to be made, printed, or published any notice, statement, or advertisement, with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin." Violators can face tens of thousands of dollars in fines. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 also prohibits the "printing or publication of notices or advertisements indicating prohibited preference, limitation, specification or discrimination" in employment recruitment. Facebook's business model is based on allowing advertisers to target specific groups -- or, apparently to exclude specific groups -- using huge reams of personal data the company has collected about its users. Facebook's micro-targeting is particularly helpful for advertisers looking to reach niche audiences, such as swing-state voters concerned about climate change. Facebook says its policies prohibit advertisers from using the targeting options for discrimination, harassment, disparagement or predatory advertising practices.
We'll let the courts decide. As someone with an "affinity" for hispanics (who is shockingly also hispanic), I have definitely experienced discrimination in the rentals market. The fact that facebook and partners would be so bold as to not realize this is illegal and unethical is evidence they are practically begging to get sued.
Democrats have always been the real racists, from the Civil War through the Civil Rights era all the way until today. Oh, they accuse the other side of it, but if you watch closely, they always accuse others of what they're really guilty of doing.
You have a constitutional right to not be not advertised to because of your race/religion/gender/other protected status.
You definitely don't, because the constitution is a set of restrictions on what the government is allowed to do to its citizens.
Also, even if it were, then Hollywood would be constantly violating the constitution by only offering roles to actors that matched the race/sex of that role. Is it messed up that the role of Martin Luther King Jr. was offered to David Oyelowo as opposed to Angelina Jolie, because of Mr. Oyelowo's race and gender?
Frankly, I hate targeted ads, and would be quite happy with a law against targeted advertising. If for no other reason than it eliminates like 95% of the well-funded efforts to violate my privacy.
Why not just make a law against advertising in general?