Facebook signs agreement with Washington state to tackle discrimination in ads

Washington state’s attorney general announced on Tuesday that Facebook signed an agreement with his office to prevent advertisers from using its platform to discriminate against “ethnic and religious minorities, immigrants, LGBTQ individuals and other protected groups” in their advertising.

Under the new regulation, which Attorney General Bob Ferguson said is legally binding, Facebook will remove such categories from its exclusion-targeting feature on its ad platform.

{mosads}His office conducted an almost two-year-long investigation of the Facebook feature and concluded that “Facebook’s advertising platform allowed unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, sexual orientation, disability and religion.”

“That’s wrong, illegal, and unfair,” Ferguson said.

The company had faced scrutiny from other groups, including lawmakers, about ethnic affinity advertising on its site that could lead to discrimination. 

Facebook said that it had already instituted the changes earlier this year that Ferguson wanted, including adjusting its advertising guidelines and removing thousands of categories related to potentially sensitive personal attributes — like race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and religion — from its exclusion-targeting tools.

The company said it’s also been working to improve its ad certification tools, which vet third-party advertisements for potential discrimination.

“We appreciate Attorney General Ferguson’s attention to this important matter and are pleased to have reached an agreement with his office,” said Will Castleberry, Facebook’s vice president of state and local policy, in a statement.

“We’ve worked closely with them to address the issues they’ve raised. Discriminatory advertising has no place on our platform, and we’ll continue to improve our ad products so they’re relevant, effective, and safe for everyone,” he continued.