In the context of my comment (internet dating company), it means even when you try to meet new people, we will make broad assumptions and present you people we think will match well with your assumed race, income, education. All for upping that retention a few .1%
In earlier internet, the experience on a single website, for example, was the same for everybody, no matter your demographic. I understand why it evolved, but I regret it a bit.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_...
The most you could discriminate them by was their number of posts on that forum, moderator privileges etc.
Classic cartoon from 1993 celebrating the equality of the anonymous internet
It's like how the public wouldn't really accept that if statistics show that all planes are blown up by people from country X, everyone from country X is thoroughly searched and no one else.
Also note that in case of the dating app, if you assume people like X want to date with people like Y and you don't allow them to match anyone else you, you can never validate/improve your assumptions.
It's not our job and it's not right to force our values on others because we think it will make them better people when that's not what they asked for. That said, I think it would be different if a news organization was doing the equivalent, and serving items that confirmed prior ideas. the difference there is that in one case they are asking to be happy, and in the other they are asking to be informed. This does of course assume people actually want to be informed and news isn't just an entertainment medium for the customer as well now...
So even though a user might only say "show me matches between 18-35 years old" the app would apply additional filtering based on the user's supplied attributes in an effort to improve "relevance".
I'm not saying you're wrong, or that this was wrong/right but I did want to clarify what the OP seemed to be saying.
Another thing is that they used to bought ads targeting female users in developing countries to "feed them" to users of richer countries hoping to bait them to pay money (to send digital gifts for example).
Were the OP working on an algorithm that would go 'next level' and extract those qualities from the base data given, then I am sure that would have been a far more rewarding endeavour than just matching skin colour or income level.
(Note: I am of sub-continental heritage and married to an Australian girl whom I met while going to ballroom dancing lessons).
The algorithm will put you in the bottom pile, because your race is different than the women in your local area
Black people are more likely to date black people, white people are more likely to date white people, and rich people are more likely to date rich people. By tailoring the matching algorithm to take this into account, you increase the chance your users will find a good match. This seems user friendly to me. Were you also offended that the algorithm matched people differently based on age?
I don't regret working there per see, I didn't make the rules, but it opened my eyes that the dream of everyone being treated equally on the internet is dying. Before, you could assume the internet wouldn't discriminate because it's digital and detached from your physical self, but more and more companies have profiles about you and your experience will vary depending on who you are.