Housing Advocates Sue Facebook for Discriminatory Housing Ads

"Housing advocates filed a federal lawsuit against Facebook in a Manhattan courtroom [this week], alleging that the social network and advertising platform enables landlords and real estate brokers to exclude families with children, women, and other protected classes from seeing housing ads," reports Patrick Sisson.

"The plaintiffs—the National Fair Housing Association, the Fair Housing Justice Center of New York City, Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence, Inc. in Miami; and the Fair Housing Council of Greater San Antonio—allege that Facebook, by utilizing the personal data of users to help advertisers target (and exclude) specific groups and audiences, enables discriminatory practices that violate the Fair Housing Act," adds Sisson.

Sisson's coverage of the lawsuit includes a statement from a spokesperson for Facebook, which refutes the validity of the lawsuit. As noted in the article, this isn't the first time that Facebook's advertisement platform has been accused of housing discrimination. As recently at as November 2017, ProPublica was finding evidence of ongoing discriminatory practices.

A press release from the National Fair Housing Alliance announcing the lawsuit provides more details.