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Meta agrees to stop algorithmic discrimination in housing ads
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IANS | 22 Jun, 2022
Meta (formerly Facebook) has agreed to settle a lawsuit with the US
government that accused the social network of engaging in discriminatory
advertising for housing on its platform.
The housing
discrimination lawsuit, filed by the government in 2019, accused that
Meta enabled and encouraged advertisers to target their housing ads by
relying on race, colour, religion, sex, disability, familial status, and
national origin to decide which Facebook users will be eligible, and
ineligible, to receive housing ads.
Under the settlement, Meta
will stop using an advertising tool for housing ads which relies on a
discriminatory algorithm to find users who "look like" other users based
on Fair Housing Act (FHA)-protected characteristics.
Meta also
will develop a new system over the next six months to address racial and
other disparities caused by its use of personalisation algorithms in
its ad delivery system for housing ads, the US Department of Justice
said in a statement late on Tuesday.
If the US concludes that the
new system adequately addresses the discriminatory delivery of housing
ads, then Meta will implement the system, which will be subject to
Department of Justice approval and court oversight.
However, if
the government finds that the new system is insufficient to address
algorithmic discrimination in the delivery of housing ads, then the
settlement agreement will be terminated.
"Because of this
ground-breaking lawsuit, Meta will -- for the first time -- change its
ad delivery system to address algorithmic discrimination," said US
Attorney Damian Williams.
"But if Meta fails to demonstrate that
it has sufficiently changed its delivery system to guard against
algorithmic bias, this office will proceed with the litigation,"
Williams added.
Meta's ad delivery system used machine-learning
algorithms that rely in part on FHA-protected characteristics -- such as
race, national origin, and sex -- to help determine which subset of an
advertiser's targeted audience will actually receive a housing ad.
"As
technology rapidly evolves, companies like Meta have a responsibility
to ensure their algorithmic tools are not used in a discriminatory
manner," said Assistant Attorney General, Kristen Clarke.
This
settlement is historic, marking the first time that Meta has agreed to
terminate one of its algorithmic targeting tools and modify its delivery
algorithms for housing ads in response to a civil rights lawsuit.
"The
Justice Department is committed to holding Meta and other technology
companies accountable when they abuse algorithms in ways that unlawfully
harm marginalised communities," Clarke added.
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