According to the UN Human Development Report (United Nations Development Programme 2015), Norway and the USA are two of the world’s richest and most developed countries, whereas the Central African Republic (CAR), the DRC, and Malawi are three of the poorest. In 2014, the gross national income per capita was US \$ 52,947 in the USA, US\$ 64,992 in Norway, US\$ 581 in the CAR, US\$ 680 in the DRC, and US\$ 747 in Malawi. Based on this variable, CAR, DRC, and Malawi were the world’s three poorest countries. Table 10.3 suggests that Facebook calculates and provides for the maximum cost-per-click bid they should offer when presenting ads to users of a specific gender in a specific country.
The data indicate that Facebook’s algorithm is based on sexist and racist logic by assuming that users in poorer countries and poorer users are less valuable consumers, that is less likely to click on ads and to purchase advertised commodities, than male users and users in rich countries. The Facebook data commodity is both gendered and racialised. The digital housewife is not just exploited, but this exploitation is combined with patriarchal and racist algorithmic discrimination that assumes that the poor and the female digital housewife are inferior to the male, rich digital housewife. Therefore, it assumes that the price for one click by the “inferior audience” should be less than one of the “superior audience”.
Chapter Ten | Capitalism, Patriarchy, Slavery
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Slavery and Racism in the Age of Digital Labour