title: japans population declines in  for first time since
text: facebook lets advertisers exclude users by race julia angwin and terry parris jr pro publica october   
  imagine if during the jim crow era a newspaper offered advertisers the option of placing ads only in copies that went to white readers 
  thats basically what facebook is doing nowadays 
  the ubiquitous social network not only allows advertisers to target users by their interests or background it also gives advertisers the ability to exclude specific groups it calls ethnic affinities ads that exclude people based on race gender and other sensitive factors are prohibited by federal law in housing and employment 
  snip 
  the ad we purchased was targeted to facebook members who were house hunting and excluded anyone with an affinity for africanamerican asianamerican or hispanic people  heres the ad itself  
  when we showed facebooks racial exclusion options to a prominent civil rights lawyer john relman  he gasped and said this is horrifying this is massively illegal this is about as blatant a violation of the federal fair housing act as one can find 
  the fair housing act of  makes it illegal to make print or publish or cause to be made printed or published any notice statement or advertisement with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference limitation or discrimination based on race color religion sex handicap familial status or national origin violators can face tens of thousands of dollars in fines  
  the civil rights act of  also prohibits the printing or publication of notices or advertisements indicating prohibited preference limitation specification or discrimination in employment recruitment 
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  facebook says its policies prohibit advertisers from using the targeting options for discrimination harassment disparagement or predatory advertising practices 
  we take a strong stand against advertisers misusing our platform our policies prohibit using our targeting options to discriminate and they require compliance with the law said steve satterfield privacy and public policy manager at facebook we take prompt enforcement action when we determine that ads violate our policies 
  snip 
  he said facebook began offering the ethnic affinity categories within the past two years as part of a multicultural advertising effort 
  satterfield added that the ethnic affinity is not the same as racewhich facebook does not ask its members about facebook assigns members an ethnic affinity based on pages and posts they have liked or engaged with on facebook 
  when we asked why ethnic affinity was included in the demographics category of its adtargeting tool if its not a representation of demographics facebook responded that it plans to move ethnic affinity to another section 
  facebook declined to answer questions about why our housing ad excluding minority groups was approved  minutes after we placed the order 
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