HUD Has Serious Concerns About Facebook's Ethnic Targeting

(RECAP: The federal agency that enforces the nation’s fair housing laws said it is “in discussions” with Facebook to address what it termed “serious concerns” about the social network’s advertising practices. Heather Fluit, a spokeswoman for HUD, said in a statement that the department was “aware of published reports that Facebook’s advertising tool may allow users to discriminate in housing advertisements.” Fluitt said Facebook’s advertising policies will be examined by HUD’s office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. ProPublica disclosed last week that Facebook’s software allows advertisers to exclude people from seeing their ads whose habits on the social network suggest an affinity with ethnic groups like African-Americans, Hispanics or Asian-Americans.)