NEW YORK: The United States and Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. have settled a lawsuit over a housing advertising system that illegally discriminated against users based on race and other characteristics, the Department of Justice said on Tuesday.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Meta encouraged advertisers to target users based on features like race, religion, and sex, in violation of the Federal Housing Act. That law prohibits discrimination in housing based on such characteristics.
Meta denied wrongdoing, but agreed to pay a $115,054 civil penalty, the highest allowed under the law. Complaints over ads-based discrimination have dogged the company since 2016, and the company has reached settlements with Washington state and rights groups over similar allegations.
As part of the deal, the company agreed to stop using an algorithmic tool known as “Special Ad Audience” and design a new housing advertising tool by the end of the year.
“Because of this ground-breaking lawsuit, Meta will — for the first time — change its ad delivery system to address algorithmic discrimination,” Damian Williams, the US Attorney for Manhattan, said in a statement.
Meta said it would also use the new system for advertisements related to jobs and credit.
“Discrimination in housing, employment and credit is a deep-rooted problem with a long history in the US, and we are committed to broadening opportunities for marginalized communities in these spaces and others,” the company said in a statement.
The case stems from a 2019 civil charge filed by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The DOJ said Facebook made some changes as part of its 2019 settlement with rights groups, but said that deal did not address the delivery of ads through machine-learning algorithms.
The settlement reached on Tuesday is subject to review by a judge.
US, Meta settle lawsuit over discrimination in housing advertising tool
https://arab.news/rr8bn
US, Meta settle lawsuit over discrimination in housing advertising tool
- Meta denied wrongdoing, but agreed to pay a $115,054 civil penalty, the highest allowed under the law
Study finds nearly half of UK news stories on Muslims show signs of bias
- Centre for Media Monitoring finds 20,000 out of 40,913 articles from 30 major news outlets contain bias and 70% link Muslims to negative behaviors or themes
- Findings reveal ‘deeply concerning evidence of structural bias’ in portrayal of Muslims by UK press and point to ‘systemic problem’ within the media, says center’s director
LONDON: Nearly half of news articles published in the UK in 2025 that referenced Muslims or Islam contained some degree of bias, according to a report issued on Monday by the Centre for Media Monitoring. It also found that about 70 percent of stories linked Muslims to negative behaviors or themes.
The nonprofit organization, which tracks the ways in which Muslims and Islam are portrayed in the media, examined 40,913 articles from 30 major news outlets and found that about 20,000 showed some form of bias.
The study looked at “structural patterns” in coverage that “shape public narratives” about Muslims amid rising hostility toward the community.
“As the largest study of its kind ever conducted in the UK, this report presents deeply concerning evidence of structural bias in how Muslims are portrayed in the UK press,” said Rizwana Hamid, the director of the organization.
It found that 70 percent of the articles it reviewed highlighted negative aspects related to Muslims, though not all of the stories were biased in themselves. The wider patterns were also troubling: 44 percent of the coverage omitted key context, 17 percent relied on generalizations, and 13 percent included outright misrepresentation.
Taken together, the monitoring center said, the findings amounted to evidence of an “information integrity crisis” that distorts public understanding, and “a deeply concerning trend” in reporting on Muslims.
The research points to a “systemic problem within our media ecosystem,” Hamid said.
“When entire communities are repeatedly framed through lenses of suspicion or threat, it inevitably shapes public attitudes, political debate and the everyday lives of British Muslims,” she added.
News brands targeting right-wing audiences were more likely to produce biased coverage, the report found.
The Spectator magazine and GB News were identified as having the highest proportion of “very biased” articles, and as the “worst across all five bias categories”: negative framing, generalizations, misrepresentation, lack of context, and problematic headlines.
Other outlets highlighted for displaying high levels of biased content about Muslims included The Telegraph, The Jewish Chronicle, Daily Express, The Sun, Daily Mail and The Times.
In contrast, the BBC, other broadcasters and left-leaning outlets recorded the lowest rates of bias in the study.
The research comes as British Muslims report rising levels of discrimination. Official figures published in October revealed that religious hate crimes against Muslims rose by 19 percent in the year to March 2025 compared with the previous 12 months.
