Google and Facebook’s algorithms have both been found guilty of offering keywords that advertisers could use to target people that make antisemitic and racist searches (Schindler, 2017) In the case of Facebook, it was revealed that advertisers were able to target Facebook users by taking their views against Jews into consideration. According to Pro Publica, Facebook advertisements included organizations or content related to the SS, the Nazi Party, and Germany’s far-right National Democratic Party. The company has implemented a policy to remove ads related to hate speech (Schindler, 2017).
In the case of Google, the search engine algorithm learned a set of associations between jews and discriminatory traits. These associations were later used by Google AdWords to process and release antisemite advertisements. The company disabled an important number of discriminatory keywords and modify the ad policy after this issue was revealed. Google has removed more than 1.5 billion ads due to the violation of its policies, which include a blacklist of words that require human approval (Schindler, 2017).
These facts were acknowledged by both companies in 2017. Still, the problem persisted after the above measures were taken.
