USA: To address concerns that its ads are discriminatory, Meta has implemented some changes to ensure that the actual audience for an ad closely matches the target audience. The Variance Reduction System (VRS) is intended to ensure that advertisements are not biassed toward specific cultural groups. The revision is part of a deal with the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Regardless of the day and age we live in, discriminatory advertisements or advertisements that favour one demographic group over another are still prevalent.
Meta's new AI technology sends a strong message against such advertisements. It will also inspire other businesses to take action against discriminatory advertising. Although the technology itself is exciting, we will have to wait and see how successful it is in making tall buildings.
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Advertisers can use Meta to target people based on their interests, demographics, and behaviour. It was then decided through a 'ad auction' which ad to show a user at a specific time.
Despite having anti-discriminatory ad policies in place, the company received complaints about advertisers potentially using ad tools to exclude people from certain services, such as housing and employment opportunities.
Meta's VRS aims to ensure that users who see a housing, credit, or employment advertisement closely reflect the intended audience.
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The company will accomplish this by measuring the audience for a specific ad and comparing it to the demographic distribution (age, gender, or estimated race) of the audience chosen by the advertiser. The new system is based on statistical data.
Once the VRS system has the data, it will adjust the auction value of the ad to display it more or less to a specific group. Meta is starting with housing ads to test the new system.
Over the next year, the company intends to expand it to include job and credit ads. According to Meta, because the system is based on aggregate data, it will not jeopardise privacy.
The implementation of VRS comes six months after Meta agreed to settle DOJ charges. The department accused Meta in 2019 of facilitating housing discrimination through ad targeting.
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It was the first time the Justice Department took a stand against algorithmic bias. Meta agreed to shelve its 'Special Ad Audiences' tool, which allegedly used a biassed algorithm, as part of the settlement.