ACLU reaches settlement with Facebook over discriminatory ads

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has reached a historic settlement with Facebook over advertising practices that allegedly discriminated against minorities. As part of five settlements totaling nearly $5 million, Facebook has agreed to make major changes to its ad platform that will help curb discrimination against certain people when it comes to employment, housing and credit ads. Facebook is creating a new advertising process, specifically for marketers that are purchasing ads around employment, housing and credit. The new process will guide ad buyers through a separate portal that will certify that advertisers understand the policies and legal specifications around targeting population segments. As part of this process, Facebook is further cutting the number of options advertisers can use to target ads.