Facebook, a leading social networking service company will no longer let companies and businesses buy targeted ads that discriminate against users who are women, elderly and people of color. On Tuesday (21st March), the company announced that it was settling 5 lawsuits filed in 2018 by civil rights groups that claimed the Facebook’s business model permitted businesses to illegally advertise job opportunities, credit offers and home sales that were only visible to men, users in white neighborhoods and young people.
Facebook first came under scrutiny for civil rights abuses in the year 2016, when a ProPublica investigation found that businesses’ could buy ads that separated out users based on their race, and this is potentially illegal in the context of employment and housing advertising.
Sheryl Sandberg, The Chief Operating Officer of Facebook wrote in a blog post, “Housing, employment and credit ads are crucial to helping people buy new homes, start great careers, and gain access to credit,” Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg wrote in a blog post. “They should never be used to exclude or harm people. Getting this right is deeply important to me and all of us at Facebook because inclusivity is a core value for our company.”
Sheryl Sandberg also said, “As part of the settlement, the platform will no longer allow advertisers to target users by gender, age or zip code if the ads are related to employment, credit offers, and housing. Ads related to other products /services will not be held to this standard.
The declaration is a key change to the business model of FB, which has allowed advertisers and promoters to target audiences to an extent that no other media agency has been able to match. This is a positive sign that this platform is softening its aggressive response toward public criticism.
