It appears that, just like misery, an investigation into possible discriminatory ad practices facilitated by a tech giant loves company.
Following the March 28 revelation that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has filed charges against Facebook for allegedly violating the Fair Housing Act, the Washington Post now reports that Google and Twitter are under investigation by the same agency. And for more or less the same thing.
It turns out that HUD is looking into the super specific ad-targeting features offered by the companies in an effort to determine if they facilitate housing discrimination. An advertising platform that, say, allows the owner of an apartment complex to purposefully exclude certain groups — such as people of color — from seeing new listings would be in violation of the law. Read more…