[Download]

Federal government charges Facebook with housing discrimination because of its targeted advertising

The federal government charged Facebook Thursday with allowing its massive trove of personal demographic data to enable housing discrimination, an allegation the company fiercely denied.

The allegations set up a lengthy legal battle between the Trump administration and one of the world's largest social media companies. At issue is whether the company's sophisticated algorithms and artificial intelligence capability still allows landlords to reach certain demographics and not others with rental advertisements.

Facebook said it was surprised by the charges, particularly after last week's announcement of a court settlement on the same issue.

The company had already agreed to shield race-based data to landlords and creditors looking to advertise, and said it would go a step further by shielding zip code, gender and age.

Last week, Facebook and fair housing advocates announced it had reached a legal settlement on accusations that Facebook enabled discrimination. As part of the deal, Facebook agreed to block landlords and creditors from using certain demographic data including a persons zip code, gender and age, when buying online advertisements.

Original article
Author: Abc News

Abc News has recently written 10 articles on similar topics including :
  1. "A DHS official warns taking down social media accounts could hurt intel gathering on potential violent protests". (January 14, 2021)
  2. "Facebooks long-awaited oversight board that will act as a referee on whether specific content is allowed on the tech giants platforms is set to launch in October". (September 24, 2020)
  3. "President Rodrigo Duterte questioned why he should allow Facebook to operate in the Philippines after it removed accounts he said was backed his governments interests, including fighting insurgents". (September 29, 2020)
  4. "Posts that use militarized language will be removed from the social media site". (October 8, 2020)
  5. "Lang Holland had been the police chief of Marshall, Arkansas, for two years". (November 10, 2020)
  6. "Facebook says it will lift its ban on Australians sharing news after reaching a deal with Australias government on legislation that would make digital giants pay for journalism". (February 23, 2021)
  7. "Facebook announced Wednesday it is continuing its "temporary pause" on all ads about politics and social issues in the U.S". (November 12, 2020)
  8. "New York regulators said in a new report that Facebook did little to enforce a policy that prevents it from collecting sensitive user data from apps". (February 19, 2021)
  9. "The social media platform Parler has reemerged online after being forced to go dark in the wake of the riot attack at the U.S. Capitol building last month". (February 16, 2021)
  10. "Anti-government extremists are working to circumvent recent social media clampdowns in order to continue recruiting new members, the Department of Homeland Security says". (March 31, 2021)
Posted on  , , , ,