Facebook charged with housing discrimination by HUD

The federal government charged Facebookwith high-tech housing discrimination Thursday for allegedly allowing landlords and real estate brokers to systematically exclude groups such as non-Christians, immigrants and minorities from seeing ads for houses and apartments.

The civil charges filed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development could cost the social network millions of dollars in penalties. But more than that, they strike at the heart of Facebook's business model its vaunted ability to deliver ads with surgical precision to certain groups of people and not others.

"Facebook is discriminating against people based upon who they are and where they live," HUD Secretary Ben Carson said.

"Using a computer to limit a person's housing choices can be just as discriminatory as slamming a door in someone's face."
"The government launched this missile and caught many in the industry by surprise."
HUD brought an initial complaint against Facebook in August. Facebook said in its statement that it was "eager to find a solution" but that HUD "insisted on access to sensitive information like user data without adequate safeguards."