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A putative class action lawsuit is challenging certain functionality in Facebook’s ad platform which allegedly allows advertisers to discriminate unlawfully
Plaintiffs Karen Savage of New York and Victor Onuoha and Suzanne-Juliette Mobley of Louisiana claim the Facebook ad platform promotes discriminatory advertisement for housing and employment opportunities.
By providing a forum for these advertisements, Facebook violates the federal Fair Housing Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, they allege.
According to this Facebook ad platform class action lawsuit, Facebook offers advertisers the option of excluding certain audiences from viewing their Facebook ads.
Plaintiffs say that with the click of a button, advertisers can exclude from their audience Facebook users who match characteristics like “African American (US),” “Asian American (US),” or “Immigrant.”
“Facebook’s advertising platform allows advertisers to target and exclude specific Facebook users to see their advertisements. This targeting and exclusion is based on Facebook users’ ‘affinity’ groups, which Facebook uses to identify a person’s ethnic, gender and other affinities based on their Facebook activity,” according to the plaintiffs.
As described in the class action lawsuit, a Facebook user’s affinity group is determined not by the user’s own reporting of any relevant characteristics like race, gender, etc. but instead by their Facebook activity itself.
“A user’s affinity may be determined by their Facebook profile and interactions with organizations and other users on Facebook,” the plaintiffs allege.
Facebook purportedly claims these distinctions are made specifically based on “affinity, not ethnicity.” But the plaintiffs say these affinity groups can be used by advertisers as a proxy for classifying Facebook users by criteria such as race, gender, family status and national origin.
Plaintiffs in the Facebook class action lawsuit say advertisers can exploit these affinity groups to prevent their content from being viewed by certain Classes of persons – Classes entitled to protection from discrimination under the Fair Housing Act and the Civil Rights Act.
For advertisers setting up content on Facebook, the Facebook ad platform first allows advertisers to target particular affinity groups, such as those with particular interest in seeking employment or buying or renting a home.
The advertiser then gets the option to “Exclude People,” the plaintiffs say, according to certain characteristics. These characteristics allegedly include several different classifications based on race, sex, religion, family status, and national origin – all of whom are protected under federal anti-discrimination law, the plaintiffs argue.
Plaintiffs say two journalists from ProPublic were able to purchase an ad on the Facebook ad platform that was targeted at house hunters but excluded from anyone with an African-American or Asian “affinity.” They say Facebook approved the ad only minutes after it was ordered.
Facebook’s stated policy provides for removing discriminatory advertising upon notification of noncompliance by government enforcement agencies, plaintiffs say. But they point out that under the current Facebook ad platform, victims of discrimination may never realize they’ve been discriminated against “because the discrimination occurs with the ads they do not see.”
The plaintiffs say they plan to add individual Facebook advertisers as defendants as they are discovered. For now, Facebook Inc. is the sole named defendant in this discrimination class action lawsuit.
If certified as proposed, the plaintiff Class will represent all Facebook users who have not seen an employment- or housing-related ad on Facebook within the last two years because the ad buyer used the “Exclude People” function in the Facebook ad platform to exclude persons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin.
They are seeking court orders granting injunctive and declaratory relief, awards of statutory damages and civil penalties, and reimbursement of court costs and attorneys’ fees.
The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys William Most of the Law Office of William Most and Jason R. Flanders and Sara M.K. Hoffman of Aqua Terra Aeris Law Group.
The Facebook Discriminatory Ad Platform Class Action Lawsuit is Suzanne-Juliette Mobley, et al. v. Facebook Inc., Case No. 3:16-cv-06440, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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39 thoughts onFacebook Class Action Says Ad Platform Lets Advertisers Discriminate
Send me the form please.
The case is still moving through the courts and has not yet reached a settlement. Claim forms are usually not made available to consumers until after a court approved settlement is reached. We recommend you sign up for a free account at TopClassActions.com and follow the case. We will update the article with any major case developments or settlement news! Setting up a free account with Top Class Actions will allow you to receive instant updates on ANY article that you ‘Follow’ on our website. A link to creating an account may be found here: https://topclassactions.com/signup/. You can then ‘Follow’ the article above, and get notified immediately when we post updates!
I need a claim form please.
The problem here is with the advertising. Publicly it is illegal to discriminate with advertising real estate this way. With marketing you can include and exclude populations because the companies are trying to find out information with certain populations of their own customers. Advertising is meant to sell products and services. When an opportunity is denied to a specific population regarding selling a product this does mean they are discriminating. I am surprised this can actually happen on such a large forum. I personally do not use Facebook due to the lack of privacy in so many ways.
I need a claim form.
I would like a claim form !!
Claim for please and sign me up!
Please send me a claim form
That’s not write, treating a race of people like that
I need a claim form signed me up I created a game show patrulla and how to win a freakin House the show was designed around a scavenger hunt rebuild of a home but yet I could not find my ID anywhere we had to create a page put ads on our page so we would have investors and people think that big money the game still had to have a celebrity host which I chose was a Steve Harvey we’re not designed around only African Americans they were just designed around people and things that you want today I tried to mix as many people in it a company called second pair of eyes we use mix crowds in there too but I could not find these ads or find the results of that because I felt if we got buried in the pile and I don’t appreciate having to label myself as African American or gay I’m a citizen of the United States I shouldn’t have to place my private life on a Facebook screen to get an account City
Send forms…please.
The case is still moving through the courts and has not yet reached a settlement. Claim forms are usually not made available to consumers until after a court approved settlement is reached. We recommend you sign up for a free account at TopClassActions.com and follow the case. We will update the article with any major case developments or settlement news! Setting up a free account with Top Class Actions will allow you to receive instant updates on ANY article that you ‘Follow’ on our website. A link to creating an account may be found here: https://topclassactions.com/signup/. You can then ‘Follow’ the article above, and get notified immediately when we post updates!
Claim Forms. Sign me up.