EDITORIAL
The Trump administration took one step toward evening the playing field in the publishing industry by filing a long overdue lawsuit against Facebook for violating the Fair Housing Act last week.
Mark Zuckerberg’s digital publishing company Facebook has been operating without many federal restrictions for the past 17 years, and HUD Secretary Ben Carson finally held Zuckerberg and his company to task.
Carson stated last week, “Facebook is discriminating against people based upon who they are and where they live. Using a computer to limit a person’s housing choices can be just as discriminatory as slamming a door in someone’s face.”
Facebook has been profiting from advertising revenue without the same federal regulations to which newspapers like The Reporter have to adhere when it comes to the same advertising.
Zuckerberg has been getting around the law by saying that his venture is not a publishing company but a technology platform.
The truth of matter is Facebook is indeed a publisher and a company that makes editorial decisions, which are protected by the First Amendment. Zuckerberg’s media company takes advantage of content created by its users and distributes it and makes money from it through advertising just like old-fashioned newspapers.
For instance, Facebook distributes content through Instant Articles and Facebook Live video. Facebook deals with 140 media companies and celebrities to make videos for Facebook Live and even courts TV companies and sports leagues.
Facebook is cutting distribution deals for the rights to air other publisher’s content, like other media companies have done with syndication and licensed content.
In every newspaper office in the country, there is a copy of the federal Fair Housing Act or a list of words that are suspect and should not be used regarding the Act. It’s important because this federal law prohibits publishing advertisements indicating “any preference, limitation or discrimination based on”the protected categories“with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling.”
The public knows anytime anyone places an ad in the newspaper it is the publisher’s responsibility to ensure that the advertisement does not discriminate against anyone based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin.
For nearly two decades, Facebook has been allowed to do just that through its news-feed algorithm, which determines what content gets shown to which users.
With more than 1.5 billion users, a single algorithm tweak can make the difference between success or failure. This is a 21st Century way of discriminating. Now that this is clear, we hope to see other tech companies and social media outlets also scrutinized by HUD.
HUD General Counsel Paul Compton said it best, when he stated, “Just because a process to deliver advertising is opaque and complex doesn’t mean that it exempts Facebook and others from our scrutiny and the law of the land. Fashioning appropriate remedies and the rules of the road for today’s technology as it impacts housing are a priority for HUD.”—M.B.
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