DOJ and Social Media Company Agree to New Advertisement Delivery System

The DOJ recently announced that a new advertisement delivery system developed by a multinational social media company is compliant with a July 2022 settlement agreement that required the company to develop a system that prevents discriminatory advertising in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

The new advertisement delivery system, called the Variance Reduction System (VRS), reduces the variance based on Fair Housing Act-protected characteristics between users who are eligible to see housing advertisements and those who actually do.  The VRS measures aggregate demographic distribution of those who have seen the advertisement to understand how that audience compares with the demographic distribution of the eligible target audience selected by the advertiser.  Throughout the course of an advertisement campaign, the VRS will keep measuring the audience’s demographic distribution and continue working to reduce the differences between audiences.  The VRS will be applied to all housing advertisements, and the company is required to continue meeting compliance metrics in agreed upon stages, which will be investigated and verified by an independent, third-party reviewer.  The company also announced that the VRS will be extended to employment and credit advertisements.

Additionally, the company stopped delivering housing advertisements to users who “look like” other users, and will not provide targeting options for housing advertisers that relate to Fair Housing Act-protected characteristics.

WBK previously wrote in detail about the July 2022 settlement agreement here.