For two, it's arguably a good public policy to judge people on the basis of what they've done, and not on the basis of statistical correlation to what other people have done.
Can you imagine i.e. having to post to Instagram regularly to get a loan, because some algorithm noticed that people who pay back their loans happen to post frequently on Instagram (when in reality the correlation is because people working salaried jobs have the time to post lots on Instagram, and people working minimum wage jobs don't)?
> For two, it's arguably a good public policy to judge people on the basis of what they've done, and not on the basis of statistical correlation to what other people have done.
Existing credit scores are based on non-causal correlation models derived from the behavior of others. Social-media based credit scores would not be any different in this regard.
I agree that credit scores based on social media posting are nonsense, but mostly because (1) it's so invasive and (2) I don't think it actually usefully correlates with anything.
> Can you imagine i.e. having to post to Instagram regularly to get a loan, because some algorithm noticed that people who pay back their loans happen to post frequently on Instagram (when in reality the correlation is because people working salaried jobs have the time to post lots on Instagram, and people working minimum wage jobs don't)?
Yeah. Some of the biggest factors in existing (US) credit scores are: on-time payment history; credit card use as a percent of limits; and average age of credit.
All of these correlate to affluence/wealth. Affluent/wealthy people can easily pay bills on time; affluent people are given higher credit limits, which makes the "use %" ratio lower; and age of credit is obviously related to age, and older people are wealthier than younger.
For two, it's arguably a good public policy to judge people on the basis of what they've done, and not on the basis of statistical correlation to what other people have done.
Can you imagine i.e. having to post to Instagram regularly to get a loan, because some algorithm noticed that people who pay back their loans happen to post frequently on Instagram (when in reality the correlation is because people working salaried jobs have the time to post lots on Instagram, and people working minimum wage jobs don't)?