Discrimination in Online Advertising: A Multidisciplinary Inquiry

Amit Datta, Anupam Datta, Jael Makagon, Deirdre K. Mulligan, Michael Carl Tschantz
Proceedings of the 1st Conference on Fairness, Accountability and Transparency, PMLR 81:20-34, 2018.

Abstract

We explore ways in which discrimination may arise in the targeting of job-related advertising, noting the potential for multiple parties to contribute to its occurrence. We then examine the statutes and case law interpreting the prohibition on advertisements that indicate a preference based on protected class, and consider its application to online advertising. We focus on its interaction with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides interactive computer services with immunity for providing access to information created by a third party. We argue that such services can lose that immunity if they target ads toward or away from protected classes without explicit instructions from advertisers to do so.

Cite this Paper

BibTeX
@InProceedings{pmlr-v81-datta18a, title = {Discrimination in Online Advertising: A Multidisciplinary Inquiry}, author = {Datta, Amit and Datta, Anupam and Makagon, Jael and Mulligan, Deirdre K. and Tschantz, Michael Carl}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 1st Conference on Fairness, Accountability and Transparency}, pages = {20--34}, year = {2018}, editor = {Friedler, Sorelle A. and Wilson, Christo}, volume = {81}, series = {Proceedings of Machine Learning Research}, month = {23--24 Feb}, publisher = {PMLR}, pdf = {http://proceedings.mlr.press/v81/datta18a/datta18a.pdf}, url = {https://proceedings.mlr.press/v81/datta18a.html}, abstract = {We explore ways in which discrimination may arise in the targeting of job-related advertising, noting the potential for multiple parties to contribute to its occurrence. We then examine the statutes and case law interpreting the prohibition on advertisements that indicate a preference based on protected class, and consider its application to online advertising. We focus on its interaction with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides interactive computer services with immunity for providing access to information created by a third party. We argue that such services can lose that immunity if they target ads toward or away from protected classes without explicit instructions from advertisers to do so.} }
Endnote
%0 Conference Paper %T Discrimination in Online Advertising: A Multidisciplinary Inquiry %A Amit Datta %A Anupam Datta %A Jael Makagon %A Deirdre K. Mulligan %A Michael Carl Tschantz %B Proceedings of the 1st Conference on Fairness, Accountability and Transparency %C Proceedings of Machine Learning Research %D 2018 %E Sorelle A. Friedler %E Christo Wilson %F pmlr-v81-datta18a %I PMLR %P 20--34 %U https://proceedings.mlr.press/v81/datta18a.html %V 81 %X We explore ways in which discrimination may arise in the targeting of job-related advertising, noting the potential for multiple parties to contribute to its occurrence. We then examine the statutes and case law interpreting the prohibition on advertisements that indicate a preference based on protected class, and consider its application to online advertising. We focus on its interaction with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides interactive computer services with immunity for providing access to information created by a third party. We argue that such services can lose that immunity if they target ads toward or away from protected classes without explicit instructions from advertisers to do so.
APA
Datta, A., Datta, A., Makagon, J., Mulligan, D.K. & Tschantz, M.C.. (2018). Discrimination in Online Advertising: A Multidisciplinary Inquiry. Proceedings of the 1st Conference on Fairness, Accountability and Transparency, in Proceedings of Machine Learning Research 81:20-34 Available from https://proceedings.mlr.press/v81/datta18a.html.

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