Facebook agrees not to let advertisers exclude ad targets by race,

Washington attorney general says social media company was allowing ‘unlawful discrimination’

Facebook can no longer let advertisers exclude ad targets based on race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation and other protected characteristics under an agreement with Washington state’s attorney general.

A couple of years ago, the social media company was shown to have been allowing housing advertisers to exclude targets for their ads based on “ethnic affinity,” raising questions about whether the ads violated the federal Fair Housing Act.

ProPublica was able to buy housing ads that allowed it to exclude users with African-American, Asian-American and Hispanic ethnic affinities on Facebook’s selfservice ad portal. Facebook told ProPublica in October 2016 that “ethnic affinity” doesn’t necessarily mean race, and that advertisers needed to be able to exclude certain groups when they target ads. However, Facebook — under pressure from groups such as the Congressional Black Caucus — said a couple of weeks later that it would make changes.

Facebook allowing such exclusion in ad targeting was “unlawful discrimination,” Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a statement Tuesday, when he announced that the Silicon Valley giant had signed the legally binding agreement after a 20-month investigation by his office.

Ferguson noted that Facebook continued to approve discriminatory ads as late as November 2017, when ProPublica reported that it was still able to buy ads that excluded groups including African-Americans, Jews and Spanish speakers. In late November, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg wrote in a letter to the Congressional Black Caucus that the company was disabling advertisers’ option to exclude ad targets based on “multicultural affinity segments.”

The Washington attorney general announced broader requirements for Facebook to follow that go beyond housing, credit and employment ads. The social media giant also must not allow ad-target exclusion by ethnic groups for ads for insurance and public accommodations — meaning all businesses open to the public. Advertisers may not exclude ad targets based on “race, creed, color, national origin, veteran or military status, sexual orientation and disability status,” the agreement says.

Facebook must make changes to comply with the agreement within 90 days, and Ferguson said the company assured him the changes would apply nationwide.

In December 2017, Facebook, Amazon and others were sued by three workers and the Communication Workers of America over alleged discrimination against older workers. The lawsuit came on the same day ProPublica and the New York Times reported that companies were able to exclude older workers in employment ads on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google.

The Washington attorney general’s agreement with Facebook this week does not mention age.

When asked for comment, a spokeswoman for Ferguson’s office said Wednesday that the agreement “cites Washington’s law against discrimination, which does not mention age.”

Facebook did not return a request for comment.