Gezielte Werbung für Nazis? Kein Bug, sondern ein Feature!

Zeynep Tufekci in einem Gastkommentar in der New York Times über das Feature auf Facebook, Werbung gezielt an alle möglichen Personengruppen auszuspielen, eben auch an jene, die „Juden verbrennen“ wollen. Diese Funktion ist kein Problem, sondern ein tief in der Programmstruktur eingebettetes Feature.

Almost every feature on Facebook is designed to make the site engaging — to encourage you to spend time there while Facebook serves more ads to you. At the same time, users can share “promoted posts” — targeted messages that advertisers pay Facebook to place in their feeds — merging pay-for-play content with the natural flow of information among friends and family. It’s a powerful combination. […] The business model — ad-targeting through deep surveillance, emaciated work force, automation and the use of algorithms to find and highlight content that entice people to stay on the site or click on ads or share pay-for-play messages — works.

The trouble is Facebook’s business model is structurally identical whether advertisers are selling shoes, politics or fake diet pills, and whether they’re going after new moms, dog lovers or neo-Nazis. The algorithms don’t know the difference, and Facebook’s customers are not its users.

Geschäftsmodell: Verkauf von Menschen.