A complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by a New York woman and two African-American Louisiana residents.[1] They claimed that Facebook’s advertising portal allows purchasers to target or exclude certain “ethnic affinities,” including “African-American,” “Asian American,” and four categories of “Hispanic US.”[2] According to the complaint, the plaintiffs all used Facebook when searching for housing and employment in the past year and they claim that a button in Facebook’s ad tool labeled “exclude people” can be used to publish discriminatory ads in violation of the Fair Housing Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.[3] The Fair Housing Act of 1968 makes it illegal to “make, print, or publish, or cause to be made, printed, or published any notice, statement, or advertisement, with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin.”[4] The Civil Rights Act of 1964 also prohibits the “printing or publication of notices or advertisements indicating prohibited preference, limitation, specification or discrimination” in employment recruitment.[5] The lawsuit adds that there is no option in Facebook’s platform “to exclude the ‘demographic’ of white or Caucasian Americans from the target audience.”[6]
[1] Ross Todd, Suit says Facebook Ad Tool Illegally Allows Racial, Religious Exclusions, NYLJ (Nov. 9, 2016)
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] 42 U.S.C. 3604(c)
[5] 42 U.S.C. 200(e)-3(b)
[6] Saqib Shah, Facebook sued over alleged ethnic discrimination in Housing, Employment Ads, digitialtrends.com (Nov. 7, 2016 5:04 PM) http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/facebook-ad-targeting-lawsuit/.