The US is siding with fair housing groups that claim Facebook Inc’s ad targeting tools permit discrimination based on sex, religion, familial status and national origin.
The government filed a “statement of interest” Friday urging a federal judge to allow the suit, filed in March by the National Fair Housing Alliance and other groups, to go forward. Manhattan US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said the groups should be permitted to pursue their claim that Facebook’s tools enable landlords and developers to exclude groups of people from receiving ads about housing based on characteristics such as family status or sex, in violation of the Fair Housing Act.