Onuoha v. Facebook (N.D. Cal.)

On November 16, 2018, the United States Attorney’s Office filed a statement of interest in Onuoha v. Facebook (N.D. Cal.).  In the case, the plaintiffs allege that Facebook uses its data collection and advertising tools to segregate users of the platform into different groups by race and national origin.  That, according to the lawsuit, allows property owners and developers to target and exclude certain users according to those characteristics from seeing housing-related advertisements, in violation of the Fair Housing Act.  The statement of interest argues that the plaintiffs have alleged sufficient facts to support a claim of housing discrimination under the Fair Housing Act, and that Facebook does not have statutory immunity under the Communications Decency Act for the development of its data collection and advertising tools.