INFS1602 HW Week 7

Hamza Akhtar (z5259583)

Ethics Guide: UNSEEN CYBERAZZI

2a) According to Kant’s categorical imperative, focusing junk food sales offers at those who are
prone to over-eating junk food would be considered unethical. The reason it would be considered
unethical is because it is promoting obesity which will obviously have negative effects on those
targeted and therefore are knowingly taking advantage of those who have genetic factors, habit,
lack of education or other factors that make individuals prone to eating junk food and using that to
generate profit. A fast food company would never claim or say that they generate revenues by
taking advantage of people with mental and physical health issues which wouldn’t be ethical. When
considering utilitarianism, the good created from targeted marketing would purely be the profits
generated for the fast food company. The downside from this would be promoting obesity which will
in future have a negative effect on the health of those targeted which will then put a strain on the
healthcare system. Thus, the ‘net happiness’ is not maximised meaning it is immoral as only the fast
food companies benefit economically, whereas the individuals and healthcare system will suffer.

b) Also, focusing the marketing for college preparation materials, scholarship and university
admissions applications on an ethical group more likely to attend college would be
considered unethical using Kant’s categorical imperative. This would be considered
unethical because by targeting a specific ethnic group, it is putting all other ethnicities at a
disadvantage when applying for scholarships or college which should give all applicants an
equal opportunity. The company would obviously never publicly admit to the public that
they are generating more profit by targeting specific ethnic groups and putting all other
ethnic groups at a disadvantage which would be considered unethical. Now, considering
utilitarianism, the good created from this would be the profit generated from these college
prep-services and the advantage that a specific ethnic group who were already more likely
to attend college would receive. However, this strategy disadvantages all other ethnic
groups, which could then lead to lower workplace diversity in the future. Thus, happiness
isn’t being maximised since a larger amount of people are being disadvantaged compared to
the group who are being helped which makes this behaviour unethical when looking at it
from a utilitarian perspective.
Article 1 - Facebook is banning white nationalism and separatism on its platforms
Audrey Schomer Mar. 29, 2019, 12:32 PM
https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-banning-white-nationalism-separatism-2019-
3/?r=AU&IR=T
1. What was the core objective of using BI? (i.e. what was the problem that needed to be
solved)
Previously, it was believed that racism and ‘hate speech’ from ‘white nationalists’ was being
spread freely on Facebook’s platform which would in turn hurt their public image,
relationships with advertisers, their own brand name and hence impact their revenue.
2. What was the result or impact? Did they succeed or fail (or both)
Overall the result was successful in helping to achieve the goal of removing racism and hate
speech from ‘white nationalist’ from the platform. It showed a greater willingness by
Facebook to take a harder and more proactive stance in content moderation so that
 INFS1602 HW Week 7
Hamza Akhtar (z5259583)

advertisers and users feel safer using the platform. Although the company saw this as a
successful way to supress ‘hate speech’, some may see it as a limiter of free speech or
Facebook taking a political side and hence causing some users to chose other social media
platforms.
3. Using Osterwalder Business Model canvas (see extra material), which component do
you think was impacted the most out of the use of BI
The Osterwalder Business Model canvas essentially consists of 9 building blocks. From the
information presented in this article about Facebook’s mission to eliminate ‘hate speech’ we
can see that the component that was impacted the most was ‘value proposition’. This refers
to when the business seeks to solve customer needs with value proposition. In this case,
Facebook is solving the problem of racism and other forms of negative speech with the goal
of making their platform more friendly
Article 2 - How Facebook is Using Big Data - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Avantika Monnappa, July 6, 2018
https://www.simplilearn.com/how-facebook-is-using-big-data-article
1. What was the core objective of using BI? (i.e. what was the problem that needed to be
solved)
Since Facebook has access to such a large amount of data, their core objective was to simply
be able to put that data to use and help create a competitive advantage over other social
media platforms. Facebook is able to track the other sites users are visiting, tracking cookies,
tag suggestions and use this data to predict and recommend posts that the user may like
based on their behavioural patterns.
2. What was the result or impact? Did they succeed or fail (or both)
It was both successful and not it some areas. The main success was that it made the social
media experience feel more personalised to the users, hence increasing retention. The main
downfalls were the privacy issues that could arise and user data possible being used/sold
without users knowing. Additionally, the company would need to be aware and ready for
any data breaches if Facebook’s security ever gets compromised since they hold extremely
sensitive data that could lead to identity theft if it falls into the wrong hands.
3. Using Osterwalder Business Model canvas (see extra material), which component do
you think was impacted the most out of the use of BI
Facebook’s use of BI with the goal of creating a competitive advantage over other social
medias most likely impacted the ‘Customer Relationships’ component the most. This
component refers to the customer relationships that are established and maintained with
each customer segment. In the case of the article, the relation created between Facebook
and its users is through the enormous amount of data they have on each user which they
then use to deliver personal advertising and other promotions.