Meta has announced something Changes to housing policy, Employment and credit advertisingThese categories result from a recent settlement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regarding the potential for discriminatory use of Facebook ads.
The Settlement Specifically related to housing advertising, and the way Facebook ads can be used to target specific groups with housing promotions, which can be used to exclude specific audiences from that outreach.
These new changes will, ideally, eliminate the possibility that Meta has chosen to expand into employment and credit ads at the same time.
Such as Meta:
“To protect against discrimination, advertisers running housing ads on our platforms are already a Limited number of targets Options that they can choose when setting up their campaigns, including restrictions on age, gender, or zip code usage. Our new approach builds on that foundation and seeks to make further progress toward a more equitable distribution of advertising through our ad distribution process. “
That updated method includes a new “variance reduction system” Meta is part of the ad targeting process, which is designed to correct potential bugs in the process.
Mets said it has been working with the housing department on the new system for more than a year, which will expand the use of machine learning technology to ensure that the overall audience of a housing ad matches the age, gender and approximate race or ethnicity of the population. And the ethnic mix of the population is worth watching that ad
“We’ve been hearing from civil rights groups, policymakers and regulators about how our advertising system provides specific classifications of personalized advertising, especially when it comes to fairness. So while HUD has expressed particular concern about personalized housing advertising, we plan to use this method for employment and credit related advertising. Inequality in housing, employment and debt is a deep-rooted issue in the United States with a long history, and we are committed to expanding opportunities for marginalized communities in these and other areas. “
Meta’s advanced ad targeting systems have undergone extensive scrutiny of this component with an investigation. By Proposal In 2016, Facebook’s system enabled advertisers to avoid seeing black, Hispanic, and other “racial” ads.
As a meta note, it has implemented various changes to limit its ad abuse, but many have argued that it did not go far enough with advertisers. Still able to exclude specific viewers The meter uses advanced equipment.
The new initiative will aim to provide more protection and eliminate bias in partnership with key companies.
Also, Meta further says that it is sunset Special ad viewers Tool:
“In 2019, in addition to eliminating specific targeting options for housing, employment and credit ads, we have introduced special ad viewers as an alternative. Looklike listeners. But the field of fairness in machine learning was a dynamic and evolving one, and specialized advertising was an early way to address audience concerns. Now, our focus will be on new approaches to improving fairness, including the ones we announced today. “
Given these changes, the impact should be minimal, as they are designed to stamp out targets that should not be used anyway. But there may be a flow-on effect, and if you run ads in this area or through these tools, it will be worth noting changes in your process.
Meta says that due to the complexities involved in the process, these changes will take some time To test and implement ‘.
