Patricio Robles says, “Last week, one of Facebook’s ad targeting options became a topic of controversy.

It all started with an article bearing the headline, Facebook Lets Advertisers Exclude Users by Race.

The article was published by ProPublica, which bills itself as “an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.”

The organization published the article after it showed how Facebook’s ethnic affinity targeting options could potentially be used by Facebook marketers in a discriminatory manner.

Here’s what marketers need to know about those options, and the controversy that’s swirling around them.

Ethnic Affinities don’t directly correspond to race

Facebook’s Ethnic Affinity filter includes options like “African-American,” “Asian-American” and “Hispanic” but it does not directly allow marketers to target or exclude users based on race”.

What marketers need to know about Facebook’s ethnic affinity ad targeting

Econsultancy

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