Facebook to Conduct Civil Rights Audit

Facebook has agreed to a civil rights Audit of the company, according to various reports.

Sen. Corey Booker (D-N.J.) asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at a Hill hearing last month whether he would be open to such a review, and Zuckerberg suggested it was a good idea.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, one of the groups that pressed for the audit, was pleased the company had followed through on the suggestion.

“We are encouraged by Facebook’s commitment to conduct a civil rights audit of the company and its products," said conference president Vanita Gupta. "The process should be transparent and engage the civil rights community."

But it will be a case of trust and verify. "We will remain vigilant until Facebook does everything in its power to reduce the civil rights harm its platform enables," the group said.

Among the issues brought up at the hearing was Facebook advertisers being able to discriminate on the basis of race.  

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.