Meta Rolls Out Ad Tech Changes To Prevent Discrimination

Recently, we have come to know that Meta’s ad tech changes are rolling out. It comes after the social media giant settled a lawsuit with the US Department of Justice in 2022 over allegations that Meta allowed landlords and home sellers to run discriminatory housing ads. Meta actually agreed to stop using a housing ad tool as part of the settlement. Furthermore, it is all set to develop a new system in order to tackle this issue.

Meta Is Rolling Out Ad Tech Changes As Part Of Settlement

Let me tell you that Meta has rules against discriminatory ads however, the social media giant faced complaints that advertisers abuse Facebook ad tools in order to exclude people from housing, employment opportunities, or even financial services. The company even allows advertisers to target ads at people based on the interests, demographics, and behavior of the social network’s users. It then uses ad auction in order to figure out what ad to show a user at a certain time.

Meta is also reported to make changes such as limiting what characteristics certain advertisers can use to reach potential customers. Miranda Bogen, policy manager for responsible AI at Meta stated in a blog post:

“But even without these sorts of targeting options, factors such as people’s interests or activity on a service could affect how ads are distributed to different demographic groups,”

Meta elaborated that the update called the Variance Reduction System is actually meant to help ensure that the audience that wants to see a housing, employment, or credit ad more closely gets the eligible targeted ones.  For that purpose, the company will compare the audience of a particular ad to the characteristics such as age and race/ethnicity that advertisers usually select to target. The social network further stated that it’s using aggregate data because of privacy concerns. Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, stated:

“Federal monitoring of Meta need to send a strong signal to other tech companies that they too will be held accountable for failing to address algorithmic discrimination that runs afoul of our civil rights laws,”

Social Media Giant is applying this new system to US housing ads and plans to expand the VRS to employment and credit ads over the next year. Reports further claim that for the first time, Meta will be subjected to court oversight for its ads system and Guidehouse will review whether the change meets certain metrics or not.

Also Read: Apple Is Working On An In-House Chip To Power Cellular, Wifi & Bluetooth Functionality – (phoneworld.com.pk)