National Fair Housing Alliance v. Facebook, Inc. (S.D.N.Y.)

On August 17, 2018, the United States Attorney’s Office filed a statement of interest in National Fair Housing Alliance v. Facebook (S.D.N.Y.), a Fair Housing Act case.  The complaint alleges that Facebook’s classification of its users and its ad targeting tools permit landlords, developers, and housing service providers to limit the audience for their ads based on sex, religion, familial status, and national origin in violation of the FHA.  Facebook moved to dismiss, arguing, among other things, that the Communications Decency Act immunizes it from the FHA.  The Statement of Interest argues that the CDA does not prevent an FHA lawsuit against Facebook for the conduct alleged in the complaint.