Facebook declare Wednesday that it wouldtemporarily stop letting advertisersexclude users from seeing their ads based on race and ethnic group . The highly controversial ( and legally dubious ) practice was first uncoveredduring an investigationby Pro Publica in 2016 . Though Facebook said it would terminate the practice when it came to ads for housing , credit rating , or employment follow the subsequent rebound , a Pro Publica account fromjust last weekfound that lodging advertising could still exclude dark , Jewish and disabled user .
In astatement last week , Facebook said it put “ safeguards ” in place follow the original study , but because of a “ technical glitch , ” the practice proceed :
This was a failure in our enforcement and we ’re defeated that we fall short of our commitments . sooner this year , we tally additional safeguards to protect against the ill-usage of our multicultural phylogenetic relation tools to facilitate discrimination in housing , quotation and use . The rental housing ads purchase by ProPublica should have but did not trigger the extra review and certifications we put in place due to a technological failure .
In their landmark 2016 account , Pro Publica found that , although Facebook never explicitly take anyone their race , users were assigned an “ ethnic phylogenetic relation ” base on their behavior . When choosing which chemical group they want to see their ad , advertizer could pick out to exclude grouping of substance abuser if they fell into , for example , African American or Latino grouping . Notably , there is not a White / Caucasian category , and thus , white users were generally not excluded via this practice . ( A handful of white users account once being labeled as “ African American . ” Userscan’t change theiraffinity . )
While Facebook enunciate it is terminate such ejection for all ads , the move looks like temporary . In a12 - varlet letterto the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus ( CBC ) made public Wednesday , Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg announced the company will turn off the option to exclude affinity groups “ until we can considerably assure that our tools will not be used inappropriately . ” Last year , CBC lawmakersexplored legal actionagainst the company , fence Facebook was violating both the Civil Rights Act and the Fair Housing Act , which prohibits landlords and employer from using race to determine housing .
This latest snafu arrive only weeks after Facebook COO Sheryl Sandbergsat down with the CBC to apologizefor Facebook ’s role in Russia ’s disinformation campaign during last class ’s election . Russian agent bought ad on Facebook featuring Black Lives weigh slogans and incendiary range of a function of black adult female holding gunman , seemingly using fear of armed black people to plague conservative - leaning users . Sandberg personally apologized to extremity of the CBC , forebode to , at a later date , tote up its first black member to Facebook ’s board .
And that apology come only four weeks after Sandberg mouth out when a separate Pro Publica probe found that Facebook temporarily allow advertisers to target usersself - key as “ Jew haters . ” Facebook would go on to say it was simply an algorithmic flaw , but , given the timing of these snowballing racist disceptation , it seems a public apology is less indicative of come substantial change and more of a speed swelling on the way to the companionship ’s next hidden horror .
[ USA Today ]
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