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Article

16 Nov 2016

Author:
Lara O'Reilly, Business Insider (UK)

Facebook ends advertising option to exclude certain ethnic groups

"Facebook is going to stop letting advertisers exclude ethnic groups on certain types of ads", 11 Nov 2016

Facebook announced on Friday it is going to remove an option that allowed advertisers to exclude certain ethnic groups from their targeting.  The social network has offered the ability to exclude "Ethnic Affinity" groups for a couple of years...The article explained housing or employment ads that exclude people based on race, gender, or other sensitive factors are prohibited by federal law — but the author managed to purchase an ad aimed at house hunters that excluded anyone with an “affinity” for African-American, Asian-American or Hispanic people that was approved within "15 minutes."  This month, a lawsuit seeking class action status alleged Facebook was violating federal fair housing laws and civil rights laws for allowing the option...Facebook is making a number of changes to address the issue. It is disabling the ethnic affinity targeting option for ads it identifies as offering housing, employment, or credit products and building tools.  The company is also building tools that can automatically identify when an advertiser in one of these sectors has attempted to exclude an ethnic group from its targeting...