Advertising

A Watchful Eye on Facebook’s Advertising Practices

Before the Department of Housing and Urban Development on March 28 announced that it has charged Facebook with violating the Fair Housing Act by enabling advertisers to engage in housing discrimination, Facebook said that it would change its ad-targeting methods to forbid discriminatory advertisements about housing, employment and credit opportunities. This plan, announced the week of March 18, is part of its settlement agreement with the civil rights groups that filed suits against the company over the past few years. The substantive terms are not radical.

Facebook tightens up rules for political advertisers

Advertisers will be required to provide verifiable public contact details before they can run political campaigns on Facebook, in the latest attempt by the social network to increase accountability for so-called dark adverts. The move is part of a raft of changes in the buildup to the European elections in May, when citizens from across the European Union will vote in new Members of the European Parliament. Facebook’s political advertising restrictions will launch in the EU27 on March 29, following partial rollouts in six countries including the UK, US and India.

HUD is reviewing Twitter’s and Google’s ad practices as part of housing discrimination probe

The Department of Housing and Urban Development alerted Twitter and Google in 2018 that it is scrutinizing their practices for possible housing discrimination, a sign that more technology companies could be ensnared in a government probe of their lucrative demographic ad targeting tools. HUD on March 28 charged Facebook with housing discrimination, alleging its targeted advertising platform violates the Fair Housing Act by “encouraging, enabling, and causing” unlawful discrimination by restricting who can view housing ads.

Dept of Housing and Urban Development Charges Facebook with Housing Discrimination Over Targeted Ad Practices

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it is charging Facebook with violating the Fair Housing Act by encouraging, enabling, and causing housing discrimination through the company’s advertising platform. The action follows HUD’s investigation of a Secretary-initiated complaint filed on Aug 13, 2018. HUD alleges that Facebook unlawfully discriminates based on race, color, national origin, religion, familial status, sex, and disability by restricting who can view housing-related ads on Facebook’s platforms and across the internet.

European Commission fines Google €1.49 billion for abusive practices in online advertising

The European Commission has fined Google €1.49 billion for breaching European Union antitrust rules. Google has abused its market dominance by imposing a number of restrictive clauses in contracts with third-party websites which prevented Google's rivals from placing their search adverts on these websites.

European Union fines Google €1.5 billion for antitrust violations

The European Union fined Google €1.49 billion for hampering potential rival search advertisers between 2006 and 2016, closing the last formal EU investigation into the US tech company.

ACLU reaches settlement with Facebook over discriminatory ads

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has reached a historic settlement with Facebook over advertising practices that allegedly discriminated against minorities. As part of five settlements totaling nearly $5 million, Facebook has agreed to make major changes to its ad platform that will help curb discrimination against certain people when it comes to employment, housing and credit ads. Facebook is creating a new advertising process, specifically for marketers that are purchasing ads around employment, housing and credit.

Another Trump Facebook election

While Democrats' campaign launches have sucked up national attention, President Donald Trump's re-election campaign has quietly spent nearly twice as much as the entire Democratic field combined on Facebook and Google ads. Political advertising strategists say that this level of ad spend on digital platforms this early in the campaign season is unprecedented. The data (captured between December 2018 and now) provides a window into the Trump campaign's 2020 strategy, which until now has been virtually invisible aside from a few rallies.

Examining Problems, and Solutions, for Journalism in the Age of Online Platforms

On Feb 25, 2019, Free Press released Beyond Fixing Facebook. The authors, Timothy Karr and Craig Aaron, look beyond Facebook to address a deeper problem infecting the entire "attention economy": the abuse of targeted advertising.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto takes on racial ad targeting in new data privacy bill

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) introduced a data privacy bill that would explicitly bar platforms like Facebook and Google from serving targeted ads that discriminate against protected groups, particularly by race, sexual orientation or gender. The DATA Privacy Act would empower the Federal Trade Commission to put in place specific definitions for what is considered discriminatory behavior in targeted ad and data practices. It would also extend the FTC’s civil penalty authority for violations of those rules, alongside broader protections on user data.

Beyond Fixing Facebook

The report calls for a tax on targeted online advertising to respond to the crisis in journalism and fund diverse, local, independent and non-commercial news and information. The report proposes a series of proposals to levy a small tax on ads sold by highly profitable companies like Facebook and Google.

Rep Eshoo, Sen Markey Introduce Legislation to Crack Down on Surprise Telephone, Cable, and Internet Fees

Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced the Truth-In-Billing, Remedies, and User Empowerment over Fees (‘TRUE Fees’) Act. The TRUE Fees Act requires phone, cable, and internet providers to include fees, charges, and surcharges in the prices they advertise for service; allows customers to end their contract without early termination fees if their provider increases prices; prevents hikes on equipment fees unless providers improve equipment; and prohibits forced arbitration clauses for wrongful billing errors.

Facebook inadvertently pulls, reinstates Trump Organization ads labeled as political

Facebook removed more than 100 ads paid for and posted by The Trump Organization after Facebook mistakenly classified them as political in nature and requiring payment disclosures. Advertisements for the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC,  the Trump National Doral golf course in Miami, and the Trump Turnberry Resort in Scotland were among the 117 ads removed from Facebook. Those ads have returned to Facebook after the network was notified by Scotland's national newspaper The Scotsman that some Trump property posts had been labeled as political.

Campaigners urge Facebook to restore ad monitoring access

Facebook has agreed to share more information about political advertising on its platform.

DOJ To Look at Impact of Online Advertising on Local TV Ads

Department of Justice antitrust chief Makan Delrahim says that the DOJ will be holding a two-day workshop on the impact of online advertising on the local broadcast TV market, and whether it should adjust its merger reviews given the argument that the edge is now competing for the local car dealer ads and should be considered part of the relevant competitive market. Justice has been considering the issue in relation to a couple of recent merger reviews, Delrahim pointed out, specifically the aborted Sinclair-Tribune merger, and the follow-up Nexstar-Tribune merger.

The Facts About Facebook

Fifteen years ago, I realized you could find almost anything on the internet—music, books, information—except the thing that matters most: people. So I built a service people could use to connect and learn about each other. I’ve heard many questions about our business model, so I want to explain the principles of how we operate. I believe everyone should have a voice and be able to connect. If we’re committed to serving everyone, then we need a service that is affordable to everyone.

Monopoly is breaking America’s free press; it’s time to break monopoly

Open Markets Institute calls on Congress and the Federal Trade Commission to immediately investigate how to protect America’s independent news media from the power and predatory business models of Google and Facebook.

Facebook Algorithms and Personal Data

How well do Americans understand algorithm-driven classification systems, and how much do they think their lives line up with what gets reported about them?

Facebook is investigating the political pages and ads of another group backed by Reid Hoffman

Facebook said it is investigating whether an organization backed by Internet billionaire and Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman violated the social media giant’s policies when it set up several misleading news pages in a bid to target US voters with left-leaning political messages. The probe focuses on News for Democracy, whose Facebook ads and affiliated pages about sports, religion, the American flag and other topics were viewed millions of times during the 2018 midterm elections, according to an analysis of the company ad archive conducted by New York University.

AT&T misleads customers by updating phones with fake 5G icon

AT&T has updated three smartphones from Samsung and LG to make them show 5G connectivity logos, even though none of them are capable of connecting to 5G networks. Now, when the Samsung Galaxy S8 Active, LG V30, or LG V40 are connected to portions of AT&T’s LTE network that have received some speed-boosting updates, they’ll show an icon that says “5G E” instead of “LTE.” That “E” in the “5G” logo is supposed to tip you off that this isn’t real 5G — just some marketing nonsense. But there’s no way of knowing that just from looking at the logo.

Facebook pays $238k to settle lawsuit and will halt political ads in Washington State

Facebook will stop displaying political campaign ads in Washington State in order to comply with campaign finance laws, and will pay more than $238,500 to settle a lawsuit alleging violations of those rules. Google was also alleged to have violated state laws by failing to maintain records of election ads on its platform, and ceased its political ads this summer, after Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed suit against the companies. The lawsuits will end without an admission of guilt from either Facebook or Google.

Trump 2020 campaign used a shell company to pay ad buyers at the center of alleged illegal coordination scheme with NRA

The Trump campaign funneled money to ad buyers alleged to have facilitated illegal coordination between the campaign and the NRA by routing funds through a secretive LLC that appears to be little more than a shell company. While the Trump campaign stopped reporting payments to ad buyers alleged to have facilitated illegal coordination between the campaign and the NRA after the 2016 election cycle, Trump’s 2020 campaign has continued to deploy the same individuals working for the firms at the center of the contro

Groups call for FTC Action to Protect Children and Families

A coalition of 22 consumer and public health advocacy groups led by Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate and sanction Google for the deceptive marketing of apps for young children.

Charter is returning $62.5 million to New Yorkers over slow Internet speeds in what regulators call the biggest ISP refund ever

In what regulators are calling the largest refund in US history by an Internet provider to consumers, Charter Communications will pay more than $62.5 million -- and free subscriptions to HBO or Showtime -- to New York customers who allegedly didn’t receive the Internet speeds they were promised, according to New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood.