The Equal Rights Center (ERC), a civil rights organization in Washington, D.C., has recently filed a lawsuit against Meta for unlawful discriminatory college marketing practices, according to a recent press release from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. The ERC is represented by the Lawyers’ Committee, as well as the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP.
The suit argues that Meta violates the District of Columbia’s Human Rights Act and Consumer Protection Procedures Act by disproportionately targeting for-profit college and university advertisements to Black Facebook and Instagram users, while marketing public institutions to White users.
The ERC cites several academic studies that have found Meta’s marketing reaches targeted audiences primarily based on their internal algorithms, which are determined by its users’ individual website interactions and purchases – a practice known as behavioral marketing. Even when an advertiser requests their ads reach a neutral audience, prior studies have uncovered significant racial and gender disparities in how Meta delivers advertisements.
Although they are often marketed as a pathway to upward mobility, many for-profit institutions leave their students and alumni with significant debt and fewer employment opportunities. By targeting for-profit higher education ads to Black users, the suit alleges Meta is reinforcing barriers to economic stability for Black students and reproducing historic racial discrimination.
“Separate and unequal services should be remnants of the past, but they are still a present-day reality for Black users on Meta’s platforms,” said Damon T. Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “Digital redlining, especially in today’s higher education market, sends the unmistakable signal that Black people belong in some institutions but not others. This lawsuit aims to make it clear that no corporation — not even a Big Tech company as powerful as Meta — should be allowed to profit from the discriminatory treatment of Black students and consumers.”
