The Department of Justice announced today that it has obtained a settlement agreement resolving allegations that Meta Platforms Inc., formerly known as Facebook Inc., has engaged in discriminatory advertising in violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA). The proposed agreement resolves a lawsuit filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging that Meta’s housing advertising system discriminates against Facebook users based on their race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status and national origin. The settlement will not take effect until approved by the court.
Among other things, the complaint alleges that Meta uses algorithms in determining which Facebook users receive housing ads, and that those algorithms rely, in part, on characteristics protected under the FHA. This is the department’s first case challenging algorithmic bias under the Fair Housing Act.
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