Is Facebook Outing Gay Users to Advertisers?

As much as I dislike Facebook's privacy policies and philosphies, they really aren't to blame here. They aren't intentionally outing users. It's the nature of advertising. Based on how you advertise you can infer certain things about people attracted by the advertisment.

It's no different than if you fill in on a survey form at a store, placing an order on line, or creating an account and you answer the question about "How did you here about us?". The only difference is people generally don't realize that clicking an advertisment is the same as answering that question. Just the result of a general lack of knowledge of how things on the internet work.

The only reason this is "news" is because it's Facebook and they don't have the best history of user privacy protection. But I don't see any mention about how advertisers can essentially get the same information from anywhere that keeps any history of your activity. My youtube account has a vast history of gay related video views, likes, and favorites. I never filled out any information saying I was gay, but I do not doubt for a second that even some of the ads that aren't explicitly gay themed and appear on non-gay related videos aren't targeted to gays and that clicking them will let them infer I am gay. It's just how it works.

But the better question this raises and the article didn't ask is whether it really matters. If the advertiser is explicitly targetting gay users for their product, does that not also imply a gay friendly atmosphere and seller? In which case is there really anything to worry about? Wouldn't a company who is actually targetting gays with advertising also thus be sensitive to their customer base and respect the privacy in this regard? Outing your customers against their will is a sure fire way to lose gay business, the exact opposite of the purpose of an advertisement.

 

I notice it all the time. A large majority on the side of my facebook are for gay ads.

 

It's been like this forever. >_>

 

It's actually the nature of the site's advertising. Many forums has this. They don't store info or compile lists of names or addresses. This is usually done because sites cannot individually appoint ads for every single page, so it is usually done by contracting outside advertisement agencies to automatically place ads for you, a popular company for this being Google AdSense. So the advertising agencies use automated systems to scan the site's text, plus perhaps the IP address that you're viewing the site from, consults its giant pool of advertisements from various companies that match those criteria, and places it on the site when you view it. Your page would have keywords that allow the automated system to see what you're interested in, and cater the ads to your interests.


DO NOT WORRY.

 

the moment I changed my profile info from not stating any sexual orientation to stating I am gay and interested in men, within minutes, all my ads were for gay dating sites.

...doesnt phase me, as I do not bother with ads anyways.

 

No-one else can see what ad's are on YOUR profile, so how is it outing anyone?


storm in a teacup much.......

 

That is correct. But if you click the ad the advertiser knows where you clicked it from. So say if you clicked an ad on Facebook for Walmart, Walmart knows which of their ads you clicked and what site you clicked it on. Now that in and of itself doesn't tell them you're gay. But if that particular ad was only put on Facebook for people who's profiles say they are gay, then Walmart knows you are gay because there is no other way for you to have clicked the ad. That's what the article is talking about.

 

Almost all my ads are for gay dating sites. Interestingly enough, I am not now, nor have I ever been, out on facebook.

So I guess I just exude gayness on there somehow xD

I'm pretty doubtful that the companies targeting ads at gay people are interested in knowing exactly who's gay and who's not, as long as the system makes sure the ads get shown to the right target audience. Though it might be a bit more troubling if things like governments could somehow get their hands on information like this in any way.

 

I guess what my post was saying was, what does it matter if advertisers know i'm gay? Its not outing you to people who you know. All its doing is directing ad's at its target audience.

If anyone has a problem with it, leave your profile questions as unanswered.....

 

It also pulls data from your friends, as well as your recently viewed sites.

EC alone will cause Gay/Lesbian Ads (depending on your gender specified on there) if you've opened it within like an hour of going on facebook.

 

Well, it's not like they're keeping track of who you are. (at least that we know of) To them, at least in theory, it's just statistics. Even so, it is an uncomfortable level of invasion of privacy. If it was just going by keywords on your page I could maybe accept this since you're being open about it in the first place, but when they look at your web history to do this, it feels like a violation.

That's why I try to avoid any big commercial site like Facebook unless there's some important reason to go there.

 

I really don't see it as an issue. These ads use algorithms to target sections of society based on stated preferences and interests, but the users information is private. Now a few more steps, and I'd be worried, but it's at an acceptable level yet. Some of this is the price we pay for getting so much online free, whether the communications on Facebook or searching on Google, etc.