How Facebook's Targeted Advertising Destroyed the Life of a Young Man
93 replies, posted
Those parents are pretty shitty, the ads could have been wrong too.
The adverts that appear on a page are targeted towards to the currently logged in user right? That means that while Facebook figured out he was gay, it was only sharing and using that data with himself. That someone else saw his computer isn't Facebook's fault. The ads were targeted to the current user as far as Facebook can know.
someone changed my job title to 'justin biebers personal sex slave' and i get gay chat adverts all the time now
it makes me wonder why facebook would actually take that seriously
i.e. my Facebook currently has 3 adverts for getting a job, and I am currently unemployed. But if one of my friends viewed my page, they would have adverts targeting them, not me.
[QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;34164255]They're just as responsible.
[editline]11th January 2012[/editline]
You probably go to a lot of lesbian porn sites. Or have several lesbian friends.[/QUOTE]
So facebook basically kicked the kid out and said he was a faggot? no bro it's not like that, ad's display on your profile BASED on what you are. and sometimes I get shit ad's like shit for gaybars even though I'm straight.
[QUOTE=Rocko's;34164329]So facebook basically kicked the kid out and said he was a faggot? no bro it's not like that, ad's display on your profile BASED on what you are. and sometimes I get shit ad's like shit for gaybars even though I'm straight.[/QUOTE]Considering none of the information was made public to Facebook, yes. They didn't kick him out, but they are just as responsible for their reckless, shitty advertising system.
[QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;34164371]Considering none of the information was made public to Facebook, yes. They didn't kick him out, but they are just as responsible for their reckless, shitty advertising system.[/QUOTE]
I can agree that it's misleading at times, but mainly all the ad's I've been getting haven't shown up on my profile. Except on my newsfeed. And it's just Dominoes with their coupons and Redbox with a free movie night.
He's gay and they showed ads for gay people to him? I don't see anything wrong with that. The parents should be punished though. Isn't discrimination illegal? Especially since (at least where I live) parents have to provide for their children until they can support themselves.
[QUOTE=Dantai;34164192]What[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]David knew the ads were displayed on his profile, but could do nothing to remove them no matter how hard he tried.[/QUOTE]
If he was that desperate he should have just deleted it.
[QUOTE=Robber;34164718]He's gay and they showed ads for gay people to him? I don't see anything wrong with that. The parents should be punished though. Isn't discrimination illegal? Especially since (at least where I live) parents have to provide for their children until they can support themselves.[/QUOTE]
Did you even read? They don't know if he's gay, someone tampered with his profile.
[quote]David knew the ads were displayed on his profile, but could do nothing to remove them no matter how hard he tried[/quote]
It's his fault for not trying hard enough. Adblock.
I'd say there had to be an underlying cause for his parents to act that way, not just the ads.
[QUOTE=Rocko's;34164805]Did you even read? They don't know if he's gay, someone tampered with his profile.[/QUOTE]
I don't see anyone tampering his profile. Facebook just made a user profile on him (or the advertiser or whatever) based on his browsing habbits, site history, facebook history and a bunch of other stuff, from which it based an assumption that he was gay and as such updated the ads to reflect this.
And it's not just on facebook this happens on. Most add providers tend to give personalised ads. His parents saw these personalised ads when they came to his computer (which are targeted by user behaviour) and went to the assumption that he is gay.
They then probably had some sort of argument with the kid, where he ended up outing himself after which they kicked him out.
There's no profile tampering involved.
Also in a way, the man can't blame facebook or it's adds for this. As there's very simple way of blocking them as it is - adblock.
[QUOTE=wraithcat;34164970]I don't see anyone tampering his profile. Facebook just made a user profile on him (or the advertiser or whatever) based on his browsing habbits, site history, facebook history and a bunch of other stuff, from which it based an assumption that he was gay and as such updated the ads to reflect this.
And it's not just on facebook this happens on. Most add providers tend to give personalised ads. His parents saw these personalised ads when they came to his computer (which are targeted by user behaviour) and went to the assumption that he is gay.
They then probably had some sort of argument with the kid, where he ended up outing himself after which they kicked him out.
There's no profile tampering involved.[/QUOTE]
[quote]Curiously, David (we'll give him that name) did not place the offending material on his Facebook profile - someone else did. He never mentioned anywhere on his profile that he was gay, and was not openly involved in any online gay groups. For David, living in a closed-minded community and with homophobic parents, such revelations would be disastrous.[/quote]
It's fault of both parties. First of all: The user tried to remove the ads. He wasn't able to do it, so there's a point in blaming facebook for adding such categories and the impossibility of proper removement.
Second it's a fault of his parents - it's discrimination. Seriously, what's wrong about being a homosexual? I know plenty and they're all fine people.
[QUOTE=Rocko's;34164995][/QUOTE]
Yeah - but they claim it's based on facebook ads. Those that tend to display on the side. Obviously he himself didn't place it there. The add provider did. So it's not profile tampering. Most people seem to forget that as far as online content goes, it's not merely the content that you place that can be traced back to you, but also your behaviour.
As to why it was placed there - there's a chance the user add profile was built up from his friendships, or other browsing behaviour.
I mean sites have an ability to read a pretty big set of your browsing history.
I mean there's this. [url]http://www.mikeonads.com/2008/07/13/using-your-browser-url-history-estimate-gender/[/url]
Also anyone remember that web2.0collage thing which more or less gave your your most popular browsing destinations just from your browser history (seems down nowadays though)
The add provider can built a very good profile of you as a person just from this. And then feeds you these ads. It probably also cross references your user profile (the add one) With those on your friends list and their friends list to make an even deeper and better targeted add.
[QUOTE=Bawbag;34164848]It's his fault for not trying hard enough. Adblock.[/QUOTE]
not everybody knows about adblock
but yeah it's totally this guy's own fault for being possibly outed by corporate greed and then made homeless by selfish moronic parents
stupid kids these days need to learn to accept responsibility for the actions of others!!!
A gay friend of mine just last night uploaded a picture album of a sauna party where he was flinging a white fedora around his dick and covering his chest with fake sunflowers. Almost every other album had hot, steamy man-interaction.
So what? If I, an unrelated person, have no qualms with this, how the hell can one's own parents disown you? Isn't that meant to be unconditional love?
what i want to know is how facebook determines someone's sexuality without them explicitly listing it on their profile
[QUOTE=just-a-boy;34165479]A gay friend of mine just last night uploaded a picture album of a sauna party where he was flinging a white fedora around his dick and covering his chest with fake sunflowers. Almost every other album had hot, steamy man-interaction.
So what? If I, an unrelated person, have no qualms with this, how the hell can one's own parents disown you? Isn't that meant to be unconditional love?[/QUOTE]
some people shouldn't be parents
[QUOTE=postmanX3;34165557]what i want to know is how facebook determines someone's sexuality without them explicitly listing it on their profile[/QUOTE]browser history, sites that have a facebook like button, etc.
[QUOTE=TehWhale;34165574]browser history, sites that have a facebook like button, etc.[/QUOTE]
don't they also have something wonky going on with their cookies as well? like it keeps your session active even if you log out or whatever
[QUOTE=Sanius;34165594]don't they also have something wonky going on with their cookies as well? like it keeps your session active even if you log out or whatever[/QUOTE]yep, that keeps track of any sites you visit with a facebook like button (or any kind of facebook frame)
[QUOTE=SSBMX;34161844]Who wants to go on a gay cruise to greece with me?[/QUOTE]
I'm already here babeh :v:
He should have AdBlocked FaceBook ads.
Also, his parents are horrible parents.
[QUOTE=Pepsi-cola;34161874]It's not facebooks fault that his parents are [i]mormons[/i].[/QUOTE]
I fixed your post a little
I'm a horrible person
"Facebook recruiting gay terrorists! More on this on Fox at 9!"
[QUOTE=Techno-Man;34166059]"Facebook recruiting gay terrorists! More on this on Fox at 9!"[/QUOTE]
yes we get it fox news is dumb. can we stop beating this horse?
More people need to know about ad block, it has to be the best ever plug-in for a browser ever.
Absolutely disgusting and unacceptable. Parents need to be locked up. Even if he was gay that isn't a reason to toss your kid onto the street.
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