Senators Address Facebook’s Potential Discriminatory Practices

Senator Catharine Cortez-Masto (D-NV) and thirteen other Democratic senators sent a letter on April 17 to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg urging him to ensure targeted advertising policies do not “facilitate unlawful discrimination.” The National Fair Housing Alliance and other fair housing groups filed a lawsuit against the company in March (see Memo 4/2), claiming that Facebook’s policy allowing advertisers to place housing ads only for certain racial, ethnic, and religious groups is a violation of the Fair Housing Act. These advertising practices also allow for discrimination in employment as jobs are targeted to specific groups. The senators call on Facebook to address these issues and ask the company to respond to specific questions regarding their policies by May 15, 2018. Read the senators’ letter at: https://bit.ly/2qIXjqR