Mark Zuckerberg and Mathias Doepfner were at the presentation of the first Axel Springer Award in February in Berlin, Germany. (Photo : Getty Images/Frank Zauritz -Pool)
Facebook users have filed a lawsuit against the social media giant, alleging that its housing and employment advertisements are radically biased. The users have claimed that the "ethnic affinity" option of the platform enables marketers to reject specific demographics while targeting others.
Suzanne-Juliette Mobley has been named as the main plaintiff in the proceedings filed in Northern California, the Courthouse News Service reported. The lawsuit also names as many as 9,999 defendants, as advertisers who supposedly utilized Facebook's platform to single out people depending on their gender, race national origin as well as other protected characteristics.
The lawsuit, which runs into 14 pages, indicated that permitting advertisers to block specific users from viewing the advertisements based on these groups is a violation of the Fair Housing Act as well as the Civil Rights Act. It further claims that these ads do not have any option to bar the "white or Caucasian Americans" from seeing them.
Facebook reportedly told the website that the lawsuit did not have any merit in it. However, a spokesman of the company told BBC that Facebook is dedicated to offering users quality advertisement experiences, including helping them to view messages that are not only relevant to different cultural communities, but also ads are of their specific interest. He added that they do not publish generic content for mass audiences, but those that represents or reflects the different communities.
Elaborating on his company's stand, the spokesman further said that they consider that multicultural advertising must be a means for empowerment. He also said that Facebook was in favor of a strong stand against marketers who misused the platform.
According to him, the social media platform's policies bar advertisers from using their targeting options to differentiate, and they need to fall in line with the law. He assured that Facebook always initiates legal action whenever they find anyone violating their advertisement policies.
October this year, a public interest website Pro Publica launched a probe into the "discrimination" claims by users who alleged that advertisements for the housing market excluded Asian Americans, African Americans, and Hispanics. According to the British publication, when civil rights lawyer John Rlman was shown the advertisements, the latter described the ads as "as blatant a violation of the federal Fair Housing Act as one can find."
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