This archive report was first published on 1 November 2019.
On November 1, 2019, a lawsuit was filed in San Francisco federal court against Facebook, alleging that the social media platform's ad targeting tools allowed advertisers to exclude women and older people from financial services advertisements.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a 54-year-old woman living in Washington, claims that Facebook's tools allowed advertisers to target ads at specific age ranges or genders, effectively denying women and older people access to financial services.
Facebook has stated that it is reviewing the complaint and has made significant changes to its ad targeting policies in the past, including a settlement with activist groups alleging discrimination in job, housing, credit, and other services advertisements.
Under the settlement, Facebook agreed to take measures to stop advertisers from using age, gender, and other protected traits to target job, housing, and credit ads. However, the lawsuit alleges that Facebook has not taken action to stop advertisers from excluding older persons and women from getting financial services ads on Facebook, other than in the limited area of credit ads.
"Women and older persons are entitled to full and equal services of businesses such as Facebook, and the financial services companies that advertise on Facebook's platform," said attorney Matthew Handley in a statement.
"Purposeful targeting of advertisements away from these members of our community unlawfully denies them these guarantees," he added.
Facebook's response to the lawsuit was that it is reviewing the complaint and has policies in place to prohibit discrimination.
