Facebook Settles with Civil Rights Groups over Ad Discrimination

Facebook has settled with a number of civil rights groups after being accused of discrimination with targeted housing, employment, and credit advertisements on the platform.

According to NBC News, the Big Tech company “reached a settlement with civil rights organizations and labor groups that had accused the company of enabling discrimination in housing, employment and credit advertising.”

“As part of the settlement, the company will introduce changes to its ad platform that prevent advertisers for housing, employment or credit from discriminating based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability and several other factors covered by federal, state, and local civil rights laws,” NBC News reported. “This will include the creation of a separate advertising portal for housing, employment and credit ads across the Facebook platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Messenger.”

After it was revealed that Facebook was allowing discrimination with its targeted advertising, the company faced lawsuits from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), and Communications Workers of America (CWA).

In 2017, it was reported that many companies had been using Facebook’s targeted advertisement system to exclude older users and certain genders from job postings.

Facebook’s system also allowed companies to exclude certain races, users with children, and others from advertisements, while in February, it was revealed that advertisers could even target advertisements at users interested in Nazism.

Last July, Facebook signed a legally-binding agreement with the state of Washington promising to stop discriminatory ad targeting.