Meta, DOJ agree on compliance targets related to fairness in housing ads

Meta, previously known as Facebook, has hired a third-party, Guidehouse, to verify for the DOJ whether Meta is meeting compliance targets going forward, the agency said.

Meta settled with the DOJ in June after the department filed a complaint alleging the company’s automated housing advertising system, which was based on mathematical algorithms, potentially discriminated against certain populations, a violation of the Fair Housing Act. The advertising platform sorted through known user characteristics, including gender and race, and chose which consumers should receive certain housing ads, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

As called for under the settlement, Meta developed a computer program to reduce the race and gender bias in its housing platform and make its delivery more equitable. The DOJ has tested Meta’s new program, called the Variance Reduction System (VRS), and found it does work to reduce bias and is ready to be implemented.

The VRS will be launched across all of Meta’s advertising, in phases, and the bias in its housing ad delivery gradually reduced.

The DOJ and Meta have reached agreement on the pace and dates under which the VRS will be phased in and how quickly the bias will be cut, the DOJ said.

“We appreciate that Meta agreed to work with us toward a resolution of this matter and applaud Meta for taking the first steps towards addressing algorithmic bias,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in the press release.

The resolution “sets a new standard for addressing discrimination through machine learning,” Williams said.

Guidehouse will investigate and test the VRS on an ongoing basis to make sure Meta is complying with the settlement by reducing bias in its housing advertisements, the DOJ said.

Meta must make regular compliance reports to Guidehouse and the DOJ showing whether it is reaching the goals the parties agreed to.

“Across the industry, approaches to algorithmic fairness are still evolving, particularly as it relates to digital advertising,” Meta said in a company blog post Monday about the VRS. “But we know we cannot wait for consensus to make progress in addressing important concerns about the potential for discrimination—especially when it comes to housing, employment, and credit ads, where the enduring effects of historically unequal treatment still have the tendency to shape economic opportunities.”