Facebook is finally addressing its sexist ad problem, and it’s about time
As accusations continue to pile up against Facebook, the social media giant is trying its best to right its many recent wrongs. On March 19th, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg released a press statement announcing “changes in how we manage housing, employment and credit ads.” The social media site previously allowed advertisers to discriminate against who saw ads for things like specific job opportunities or apartment buildings (meaning an ad for a specific professional opportunity might be shown almost exclusively to, say, white men). However, thanks to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and the National Fair Housing Alliance, this will not continue.
"Our policies already prohibit advertisers from using our tools to discriminate," Sandberg wrote. "We’ve removed thousands of categories from targeting related to protected classes such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and religion. But we can do better."
After consulting a civil rights law firm, Facebook has now enacted three new policies to prohibit discriminatory ad strategies. Advertisers are now banned from targeting their ads to users of a certain age, gender, or by zip code. Furthermore, housing, employment, and credit advertisers will have a smaller set of targeting categories to use in their campaigns. The site is also building a housing search tool that anyone can use, regardless of if housing is being advertised to them or not.
We're announcing changes in how we manage housing, employment and credit ads on Facebook. They’re the result of settlement agreements with the @natfairhouse, @ACLU, @CWAUnion, and other private groups. https://t.co/rRpsvuWFJV
— Meta (@Meta) March 19, 2019
Facebook previously defended their former policy, telling Mashable in 2016, “The lawsuit [filed by the ACLU and National Fair Housing Alliance] is utterly without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously.”
However, the company ultimately settled in court and agreed to change its ways.
Thank you to them for their leadership. These changes mark an important step in our broader effort to prevent discrimination and promote fairness and inclusion on Facebook.
— Meta (@Meta) March 19, 2019
"Housing, employment and credit ads are crucial to helping people buy new homes, start great careers, and gain access to credit. They should never be used to exclude or harm people," Sandberg continued. "Getting this right is deeply important to me and all of us at Facebook because inclusivity is a core value for our company."
Sometimes it’s best to admit defeat. Because let’s be honest, Facebook—y’all were wrong. There’s still a lot of mess to pick up, but at least the people behind the platform seem willing to change to better their product.
