Facebook will temporarily stop advertisers from excluding certain races

Facebook Inc saidon Wednesday it was temporarily disabling the ability ofadvertisers on its social network to exclude racial groups fromthe intended audience of ads while it studies how the featurecould be used to discriminate.

Facebook's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, toldAfrican-American U.S. lawmakers in a letter that the company wasdetermined to do better after a news report said Facebook hadfailed to block discriminatory ads.

The U.S.-based news organization ProPublica reported lastweek that, as part of an investigation, it had purchased
discriminatory housing ads on Facebook and slipped them past thecompany's review process, despite claims by Facebook monthsearlier that it was able to detect and block such ads.

"Until we can better ensure that our tools will not be usedinappropriately, we are disabling the option that permitsadvertisers to exclude multicultural affinity segments from theaudience for their ads," Sandberg wrote in the letter to theCongressional Black Caucus, according to a copy posted online byProPublica.

It is unlawful under U.S. law to publish certain types ofads if they indicate a preference based on race, religion, sexor certain classifications.

Facebook, the world's largest social network with 2.1billion users and $36 billion US in annual revenue, has been on thedefensive for its advertising practices.

In September it disclosed the existence of Russia-linked adsthat ran during the 2016 U.S. election campaign. The same monthit turned off a tool, also reported by ProPublica, that hadinadvertently let advertisers target based on people'sself-reported job, even if the job was "Jew hater."

Sandberg said in the letter that advertisers who useFacebook's targeting options to include certain races for ads
about housing, employment or credit will have to certify toFacebook that they are complying with Facebook's
anti-discrimination policy and with applicable law.

Sandberg defended race- and culture-based marketing ingeneral, saying it was a common and legitimate practice in thead industry to try to reach specific communities.

U.S. Representative Robin Kelly, a member of theCongressional Black Caucus, said Facebook's action was
appropriate.

"When I first raised this issue with Facebook, I wasdisappointed," Kelly, a Democrat, said in a statement. "When it
became necessary to raise the issue again, I was irritated.

Thankfully, we've been able to establish a constructive pipelineof communication that's resulted in a positive step forward."