U.S. Charges Facebook With Violating Fair Housing Laws
March 28 2019 - 8:41AM
Dow Jones News
By Daniel Nasaw
WASHINGTON -- The Department of Housing and Urban Development on
Thursday said it was charging Facebook Inc. with violating fair
housing laws by enabling real-estate companies to improperly limit
who can view advertisements on its platform.
The charges under the Fair Housing Act, announced in a statement
Thursday morning, accuse the social-media giant of unlawfully
discriminating based on race, color, national origin, religion, and
more, "by restricting who can view housing-related ads."
"Facebook is discriminating against people based upon who they
are and where they live," HUD Secretary Ben Carson said in a
statement announcing the charges of violating the Fair Housing Act.
"Using a computer to limit a person's housing choices can be just
as discriminatory as slamming a door in someone's face."
The department said Facebook let advertisers exclude people from
viewing housing and housing-related ads based on demographics
including status as parents, citizenship status, interest in
Hispanic culture, gender, and more categories.
Facebook didn't immediately respond to a request for
comment.
Write to Daniel Nasaw at daniel.nasaw@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 28, 2019 08:26 ET (12:26 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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