Facebook Gets Sued Over Racist Advertising Practices, Excluding Minorities With Housing Ads

Facebook is facing a lawsuit after it was found out that its advertising system excludes minorities and users with certain ethnic backgrounds from housing ads. What’s more, it would seem that the system heavily favors Caucasian or white Americans by providing companies with no way to exclude them from seeing the ads.

The lawsuit is being filed by three users of the social network, Ars Technica reports, citing violations of the US Federal Housing Act of 1964 committed by Facebook. It’s the result of findings published by ProPublica a month ago, indicating that minorities and ethnicities are excluded from viewing housing opportunities.

The revelation resulted in several civil rights lawyers to cry foul over the blatant violation of U.S. laws preventing a certain segment of the population from being marginalized. Unfortunately, the story never really got the attention that it deserved.

According to the law, companies are not allowed "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.” By setting up its advertising system the way it did, Facebook committed a grossly illegal act, which gives the plaintiffs significant ammunition in their lawsuit.

In an attempt to downplay the severity of its illegal actions, the social network tried to paint the discriminatory ad rule as a tool that focuses on affinities, USA Today reports. Facebook’s spokeswoman Genevieve Grdina also tried to brush off the lawsuit as baseless.

"The lawsuit is utterly without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously,” Grdina said. “Multicultural marketing is a common practice in the ad industry and helps brands reach audiences with more relevant advertising. Our policies prohibit using our targeting options to discriminate, and they require compliance with the law.”