Facebook settles suits over ad discrimination

Facebook on Tuesday agreed to enact sweeping reforms to its ad-targeting system as part of a settlement with civil rights groups alleging the tech giant allowed advertisers to discriminate against marginalized groups.

Under the settlement, which comes in response to five separate legal actions alleging discrimination by Facebook’s advertising system, Facebook will no longer allow advertisers selling housing, credit or employment opportunities to target users based on their age, gender or zip code.

If advertisers disclose that they are selling opportunities in housing, credit or employment — industries protected by civil rights laws — they will be subject to much closer scrutiny by Facebook.

Those advertisers will be able to choose from a couple hundred micro-targeting opportunities, rather than the tens of thousands available to advertisers in other categories.

“Housing, employment and credit ads are crucial to helping people buy new homes, start great careers, and gain access to credit,” Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg wrote in a blog post. “They should never be used to exclude or harm people. Getting this right is deeply important to me and all of us at Facebook because inclusivity is a core value for our company.”

The settlement is the result of two years of negotiating between Facebook and multiple civil rights groups.