<story><title>An open letter to FB, Twitter, Instagram regarding algorithms and my son&apos;s birth</title><url>https://twitter.com/gbrockell/status/1072589687489998848</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Wowfunhappy</author><text>In the case of the letter author, I suspect the problem isn&amp;#x27;t just that stillbirths are rare, but that you can&amp;#x27;t really monetize a stillbirth. Better to assume the baby was born successfully than miss out on the opportunity to advertise to a new mom.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m sure no one in the room of marketing execs has considered personal consequences like this one.&lt;p&gt;This type of thing is why I do my best to enable privacy settings and disable personalized ads. I don&amp;#x27;t actually care whether Google knows what I ate for dinner last night, but I don&amp;#x27;t want constantly see Google&amp;#x27;s fuzzy judgements of my humanity as I browse the web.</text></item><item><author>srvo</author><text>This seems to happen a lot when one&amp;#x27;s experience is statistically unlikely, or when it doesn&amp;#x27;t neatly mesh with a commercial opportunity.&lt;p&gt;For instance, I am a transgender woman and I get THE WEIRDEST ads. Makes sense, since an algorithm meshing together my engagement histories from ten years of social platforms must see something quite strange.&lt;p&gt;The only appropriately targeted advertisements I get are from academics interested in studying me. Like: &amp;quot;are you a trans woman? Take this study and win a gift card.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;When platforms attempt to monetize me, they wind up pushing the brooks brothers dress shirt deals and so on that I used to gobble up in my prior life.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve taken my business local as a result, but the algorithmic rejection of my reality on these platforms takes a pretty consistent toll. I don&amp;#x27;t know what the solution is, but wanted to underscore that this is a broader problem.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tathougies</author><text>Given the amount of ads for fertility doctors I saw after we lost our son, and the ridiculous claims they were making, I think its safe to say that stillbirths are both lucrative and certainly advertised towards.&lt;p&gt;Honestly, I&amp;#x27;m not sure theres anything to do about it. As awful as losing our son was, I&amp;#x27;m not sure taking away others rights is really an appropriate response. While Facebook would be wise to take these things into account to build social trust, advertisers themselves are always going to want to advertise their products.</text></comment>
<story><title>An open letter to FB, Twitter, Instagram regarding algorithms and my son&apos;s birth</title><url>https://twitter.com/gbrockell/status/1072589687489998848</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Wowfunhappy</author><text>In the case of the letter author, I suspect the problem isn&amp;#x27;t just that stillbirths are rare, but that you can&amp;#x27;t really monetize a stillbirth. Better to assume the baby was born successfully than miss out on the opportunity to advertise to a new mom.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m sure no one in the room of marketing execs has considered personal consequences like this one.&lt;p&gt;This type of thing is why I do my best to enable privacy settings and disable personalized ads. I don&amp;#x27;t actually care whether Google knows what I ate for dinner last night, but I don&amp;#x27;t want constantly see Google&amp;#x27;s fuzzy judgements of my humanity as I browse the web.</text></item><item><author>srvo</author><text>This seems to happen a lot when one&amp;#x27;s experience is statistically unlikely, or when it doesn&amp;#x27;t neatly mesh with a commercial opportunity.&lt;p&gt;For instance, I am a transgender woman and I get THE WEIRDEST ads. Makes sense, since an algorithm meshing together my engagement histories from ten years of social platforms must see something quite strange.&lt;p&gt;The only appropriately targeted advertisements I get are from academics interested in studying me. Like: &amp;quot;are you a trans woman? Take this study and win a gift card.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;When platforms attempt to monetize me, they wind up pushing the brooks brothers dress shirt deals and so on that I used to gobble up in my prior life.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve taken my business local as a result, but the algorithmic rejection of my reality on these platforms takes a pretty consistent toll. I don&amp;#x27;t know what the solution is, but wanted to underscore that this is a broader problem.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>wiz21c</author><text>&amp;gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt; I&amp;#x27;m sure no one in the room of marketing execs has considered personal consequences like this one.&lt;p&gt;Your first sentence was more correct (I suspect) : they thought about it and purposely forgot about it &amp;#x27;cos there was no money to be made there.</text></comment>