CBC Condemns Facebook's 'Discriminatory' Ad Practices

The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), which represents black members of the US Congress, has condemned Facebook's use of 'ethnic affinities' advertising, which allows users to exclude groups based on race and ethnicity.

In the US, it is illegal to publish housing or job adverts that discriminate on factors such as race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. However, earlier in the week, non-profit newsroom ProPublica reported that Facebook is enabling advertisers to prevent their ads being shown to users who belong to certain 'ethnic affinity' groups. The publisher reported that it had been able to use Facebook's tool to create an ad for an event aimed at housing tenants, and then block the ad from pages of users with black, Asian-American, or Hispanic ethnic affinities - which CBC says is a violation of the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

In response, CBC members have called on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to 'swiftly address and remedy the discriminatory practice'. CBC Chairman G.K. Butterfield (pictured) said in a statement: 'Racism and discrimination in any form should never be tolerated. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are outraged and challenge Facebook and all social media platforms to take the issue of discrimination seriously and implement innovative solutions that aim to prevent ill-treatment of its customers and discrimination on its platform'.

Facebook replied in a statement: 'We've heard from groups and policy makers who are concerned about some of the ways our targeting tools could be used by advertisers. We are listening and working to better understand these concerns'.