Philipp Hacker (European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) – European New School of Digital Studies) and Frederik Zuiderveen Borgesius (iHub, Radboud University, Nijmegen) have posted Automated Poverty: Should Socio-Economic Status Be a Protected Ground in Non-Discrimination Law? on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Many people worry about inequality in Europe. Automated decision making (ADM), including by means of Artificial intelligence (AI), adds new dimensions to inequality, especially when ADM systems are used to make decisions about people. Indeed, ADM can have discriminatory effects towards persons with low socioeconomic status (SES). For instance, automated price differentiation can lead to higher prices for people with less money. States that use ADM to detect fraud may focus on people in poverty and on welfare fraud, rather than on high-SES people who avoid taxes. Meanwhile, many non-discrimination statutes protect people against discrimination concerning identity-based protected grounds, such as ethnicity, gender, religion, disability, age, and sexual orientation. But most non-discrimination statutes do not protect against discrimination based on poverty or SES. This paper explores whether SES should be added as a protected ground in non-discrimination law in the European Union. We chart arguments in favour of and against legally protecting people against discrimination based on SES. We also provide an example of how a legal ban on discrimination based on SES could be implemented, including appropriate exceptions to such a ban. Prompted by ADM and AI scenarios, our findings more generally apply to non-discrimination law.
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