‘ALGORITHMIC DISCRIMINATION’

Meta Settles With Justice Department Over Alleged Housing Discrimination

The DOJ alleged Meta’s ad-targeting algorithms perpetrated housing discrimination by limiting who saw ads based on factors like race.

Meta, the company that owns Facebook, has reached a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in a lawsuit over its targeted advertising practices, agreeing to pay a penalty of $115,054 and change its algorithm. According to the suit, Meta violated the Fair Housing Act and perpetrated housing discrimination, as it allegedly let advertisers limit who could see advertisements based on race, gender, and ZIP code. As The New York Times reported, the 2019 lawsuit alleged that Meta did not show housing advertisements to a “diverse audience.” The agreement stipulates that Meta will use a new machine learning technology to guarantee that advertisers are indeed showing housing-related ads to specific protected groups, and federal prosecutors said that the decision will force Meta to confront “algorithmic discrimination.” Meta’s updated system is still in development, and a third-party will assess the efficacy of the new technology.