He said Facebook began offering the “Ethnic Affinity” categories within the past two years as part of a “multicultural advertising” effort. This is a common practice in the industry.”
For instance, he said, an advertiser “might run one campaign in English that excludes the Hispanic affinity group to see how well the campaign performs against running that ad campaign in Spanish. Satterfield said it’s important for advertisers to have the ability to both include and exclude groups as they test how their marketing performs. “We take prompt enforcement action when we determine that ads violate our policies." “We take a strong stand against advertisers misusing our platform: Our policies prohibit using our targeting options to discriminate, and they require compliance with the law,” said Steve Satterfield, privacy and public policy manager at Facebook. We found nearly 50,000 unique categories in which Facebook places its users.įacebook says its policies prohibit advertisers from using the targeting options for discrimination, harassment, disparagement or predatory advertising practices.
ProPublica recently offered a tool allowing users to see how Facebook is categorizing them. Facebook’s microtargeting is particularly helpful for advertisers looking to reach niche audiences, such as swing-state voters concerned about climate change. 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.įacebook’s business model is based on allowing advertisers to target specific groups - or, apparently to exclude specific groups - using huge reams of personal data the company has collected about its users. 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.” Violators can face tens of thousands of dollars in fines. This is about as blatant a violation of the federal Fair Housing Act as one can find.” When we showed Facebook’s racial exclusion options to a prominent civil rights lawyer John Relman, he gasped and said, “This is horrifying. The ad we purchased was targeted to Facebook members who were house hunting and excluded anyone with an “affinity” for African-American, Asian-American or Hispanic people.
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