ACLU reached settlement with Facebook

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), along with its client, Communications Workers of America and other civil rights groups, after years of efforts t announced that it has reached a historical settlement with Facebook. For the last few years the organisations tried to show that Facebook’s targeted ads are discriminatory, since they are based on race, gender, age, and other sensitive criteria. They explained how this can lead to serious violations of fundamental civil rights, for example if a job posting were only presented to women of a certain age or excluded minorities etc. In the settlement, Facebook agreed to make separate sections on its platform for advertisers to post ads about job, houses, and credit. Within this place targeting based on gender, age, race, ZIP code, and membership in certain groups will be forbidden. Also Facebook will require its advertisers to ensure that they respect anti-discrimination laws by certifying sel compliance. Finally, Facebook will be on a three-year monitoring programme for its advertising practices.