Businesses want to advertise to very targeted audiences. And with the wealth of information that social media behemoth Facebook has, perhaps no advertising platform in history has allowed businesses to more narrowly target their ads to specific consumers. But it turns out Facebook may have been allowing advertisers to narrow their focus in illegal ways.
Pro Publica revealed that Facebook was allowing advertisers to exclude specific groups from seeing advertisements based on “Ethnic Affinities.” And a lawsuit filed in federal court in California claims this practice violated federal laws on housing and employment discrimination.
