Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto takes on racial ad targeting in new data privacy bill

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) introduced a data privacy bill that would explicitly bar platforms like Facebook and Google from serving targeted ads that discriminate against protected groups, particularly by race, sexual orientation or gender. The DATA Privacy Act would empower the Federal Trade Commission to put in place specific definitions for what is considered discriminatory behavior in targeted ad and data practices. It would also extend the FTC’s civil penalty authority for violations of those rules, alongside broader protections on user data. The bill would require platforms to be more transparent in how they collect, process, and store user data. Any collection would only be warranted for what the bill calls “legitimate business or operational purpose” and would not subject a user to privacy risk. It would also prohibit platforms from deceiving users on how their data is used. Platform would also be required to allow users access to opt-out of the collection and storage of their data in most cases.