{"id":3661,"date":"2018-08-26T10:02:18","date_gmt":"2018-08-26T14:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/?p=3661"},"modified":"2022-12-13T10:08:58","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T15:08:58","slug":"online-fair-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/2018\/08\/26\/online-fair-housing\/","title":{"rendered":"Online fair housing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"online<\/a>
Fair Housing (infographic from nationalfairhousing.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Facebook has been under scrutiny for a number of issues, including privacy rights and political ads.\u00a0 In an effort to enforce online fair housing, HUD has made a complaint<\/a> alleging that the social media platform has violated the Fair Housing Act. Online fair housing is a serious issue. HUD’s enforcement of fair housing extends to online social media and sharing platforms.<\/p>\n

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development complaint<\/a> (hud.gov) states that:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cFacebook unlawfully discriminates by enabling advertisers to restrict which Facebook users receive housing-related ads based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin and disability.\u00a0 Facebook mines extensive user data and classifies its users based on protected characteristics.\u00a0 Facebook\u2019s ad targeting tools then invite advertisers to express unlawful preferences by suggesting discriminatory options, and Facebook effectuates the delivery of housing-related ads to certain users and not others based on those users\u2019 actual or imputed protected traits\u2026The alleged policies and practices of Facebook violate the Fair Housing Act based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin and disability.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

HUD\u2019s August 17th<\/sup> press release<\/a> that announced the complaint alleges that Facebook<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cinvites advertisers to express unlawful preferences by offering discriminatory options, allowing them to effectively limit housing options for these protected classes under the guise of \u2018targeted advertising.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

HUD emphasizes that the Fair Housing Act \u201cprohibits discrimination in housing transactions including print and online advertisement on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, or familial status.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

HUD’s Secretary-initiated complaint follows the Department’s investigation into Facebook’s advertising platform which includes targeting tools that enable advertisers to filter prospective tenants or home buyers based on these protected classes.<\/p>\n

Anna Maria Farias, HUD\u2019s Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity who filed the complaint, stated:<\/p>\n

\n

“The Fair Housing Act prohibits housing discrimination including those who might limit or deny housing options with a click of a mouse\u2026When Facebook uses the vast amount of personal data it collects to help advertisers to discriminate, it’s the same as slamming the door in someone’s face<\/em>.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Past online fair housing allegations<\/h3>\n

Allegations of online fair housing violations are not new for Facebook.\u00a0 ProPublica alleged in 2016 that Facebook allowed advertisers to purchase discriminatory ads through a targeted advertising platform (Facebook Lets Advertisers Exclude Users by Race<\/a><\/em>; propublica.org; October 28, 2016).\u00a0 The targeted advertising platform had a \u201cEthnic Affinity\u201d section (at that time, it was alleged that Facebook assigned \u201cEthnic Affinity\u201d to subscribers based on posts and \u201clikes\u201d).\u00a0 Facebook claimed that \u201cEthnic Affinity\u201d is different than race, and was part of a \u201cmulticultural advertising\u201d effort.<\/p>\n

Following ProPublica\u2019s investigative reporting, HUD briefly investigated the matter.\u00a0 Facebook was said to have changed the targeted advertisement platform by moving \u201cEthnic Affinity.\u201d\u00a0 Additionally, an anti-discrimination advertising system was to be implemented.\u00a0 However, a follow up investigation found that the reporters were able to purchase housing advertising that should have been rejected for discriminatory preferences (Facebook (Still) Letting Housing Advertisers Exclude Users by Race<\/em><\/a>; propublica.com; November 21, 2017).<\/p>\n

Facebook is not the first website to be accused of online fair housing violations.\u00a0 In 2006, a civil rights non-profit sued Craigslist<\/a> for discriminatory housing ads that were posted by users.\u00a0 At the center of the matter was if Craigslist was considered a publisher.\u00a0 The case was dismissed based on a Communications Decency Act provision that states, \u201c\u2026[n]o provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Even though the suit was dismissed, Craigslist worked with HUD and housing advocacy groups to implement technology<\/a> to prevent discriminatory words and phrases in housing ads (craigslist.org).<\/p>\n

Original published at https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/2018\/08\/26\/online-fair-housing\/<\/p>\n

By Dan Krell.
\nCopyright \u00a9 2018.<\/p>\n

If you like this post, do not copy; instead please:
\nlink to the article<\/a>,
\nlike it on Facebook<\/a>
\nor Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Protected<\/a>Disclaimer<\/a>. This article is not intended to provide nor should it be relied upon for legal and financial advice. Readers should not rely solely on the information contained herein, as it does not purport to be comprehensive or render specific advice. Readers should consult with an attorney regarding local real estate laws and customs as they vary by state and jurisdiction. Using this article without permission is a violation of copyright laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facebook has been under scrutiny for a number of issues, including privacy rights and political ads.\u00a0 In an effort to enforce online fair housing, HUD has made a complaint alleging that the social media platform has violated the Fair Housing Act. Online fair housing is a serious issue. HUD’s enforcement of fair housing extends to … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Online fair housing”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[70,16,24,13],"tags":[831,800,804,797],"class_list":["post-3661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fair-housing","category-hud","category-internet","category-real-estate","tag-fair-housing","tag-hud","tag-internet","tag-real-estate"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1VZLf-X3","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3661"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6577,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3661\/revisions\/6577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}