Slashdot Mirror
Facebook is Being Sued Over Housing Discrimination (fastcompany.com)
The National Fair Housing Alliance, along with three other nonprofit housing advocacy organizations around the country, has filed a lawsuit against Facebook over its alleged discriminatory advertisements. From a report: The nonprofits, over the last few months, created a fake real estate company and used the Facebook ad platform to place housing ads. According to the lawsuit, the NFHA was able to place advertisements that "[excluded] families with children and women from receiving advertisements, as well as users with interests based on disability and national origin." In the NFHA's press release, the organization writes that "Facebook's advertising platform enables landlords and real estate brokers to exclude families with children, women, and other protected classes of people from receiving housing ads."
The lawsuit follows extensive reporting from ProPublica that investigated these potentially discriminatory practices. For over a year, the journalism outlet tested various ways that landlords could place ads for housing, and found that the targeting allowed for many people to be kept out of the loop. Given Facebook's massive user base of over 2 billion users, the group believes that the social network is in violation of the Fair Housing Act.
The lawsuit follows extensive reporting from ProPublica that investigated these potentially discriminatory practices. For over a year, the journalism outlet tested various ways that landlords could place ads for housing, and found that the targeting allowed for many people to be kept out of the loop. Given Facebook's massive user base of over 2 billion users, the group believes that the social network is in violation of the Fair Housing Act.
Well looks like these non-profits are just looking for a pay day. FB didn't do the advertising, the only provided a platform. Perhaps FB should sue them for deceit in creating fake companies and creating an ad campaign that purposely discriminates against people or review real estate companies who advertise on FB to see if they are discriminating against people. It's not FB who is in violation, it is those who are doing the advertising. It is not the gun manufacturer who kills people is is the people who are allowed to get their hands on guns they shouldn't have access to who kills people.
I believe it is NFHA who is in violation of the Fair Housing Act, not FB.
the National Fair Housing Alliance et al (NFHA) need to step back and breath. I don't see Facebook as having done anything wrong if NFHA managed to give Facebook a neutrally worded ad with filters restricting whom the ads were being shown to. Yes, that would be a sneaky underhanded technique, but claiming that "Facebook broke the law! Give me money!" for falling for that technique would be equivalent to a landlord putting up advertisements in local papers in neighborhoods that omit protected groups. Or for that matter, having a landlord put up any advertisement in any media, and omitting selected medias for the purpose of making it so that protected groups are unlikely to see the advertisement in the first place. I just browsed the Fair Housing Act and I don't see any where in it that claims that you have to target your ads to the entire population, I do see that you can't have an ad that states that protected groups are not wanted, but there's nothing there that says that you have to make certain that the ad is available to everyone.
The point is: you would never know if someone violated the fair housing act. Facebook is providing a a means to conduct illegal activity. The same principle applies to me as a software developer. I cannot create accounting software that lets people cook their books. I would go to prison. Everyone commenting on this is way off. These non-profits know their shit. If you don't like it, lobby to have the laws revoked.
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
Provide a platform that lets people commit tax evasion and see how long you avoid prison.
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
I am honored that someone used all of their mod points to down-vote all of my comments today. Normally someone experiencing this would get mad but I know it is a butt-hurt Hillary voting Facebook schill hard at work furiously clicking about to make the world a better place. God I love this site.
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
I mean, what if we bring this into the analog world a bit....if I have a house for rent, and I print up flyers, and I only put them in in the neighborhood close to the property, or perhaps I choose to only nail them to poles in affluential neighborhoods....rather than also post them in "the hood"....I am now guilty of discrimination?
I now have to advertise to everyone?
I know it is illegal WITHIN an ad to say "you needn't apply if you are ", but that applies to content of the ad, not where it is placed.
Geez....what used to be common sense is right out the fucking window today with the SJW crowd.....
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I hate Facebook probably more than most...but this is over the top ridiculous, even for idiot SJWs. I didn't think those types could get any more pathetically brainless. Apparently I was very wrong.