Housing Department Slaps Facebook With Discrimination Charge

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is suing social media giant Facebook for allegedly violating the Fair Housing Act. From a report: HUD says Facebook does so by 'encouraging, enabling and causing housing discrimination' when it allows companies that use their platform to improperly shield who can see certain housing ads. In the charging document, HUD accuses Facebook of unlawfully discriminating against people based on race, religion, familial status, disability and other characteristics that closely align with the 1968 Fair House Act's protected classes.

HUD also alleges Facebook allowed advertisers certain tools on their advertising platform that could exclude people who were classified as 'non-American-born,' 'non-Christian' or 'interested in Hispanic culture,' among other things. It also said advertisers could exclude people based on ZIP code, essentially 'drawing a red line around those neighborhoods on a map.' 'Facebook is discriminating against people based upon who they are and where they live,' HUD Secretary Ben Carson said in a statement. 'Using a computer to limit a person's housing choices can be just as discriminatory as slamming a door in someone's face.'

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