For Immediate Release: March 19, 2018
Media Contact: Kwame Belle, kwame.belle@berlinrosen.com| Michelle Morris, michelle.morris@berlinrosen.com
New York — Following Facebook’s settlement with the National Fair Housing Alliance, Communication Workers of America and the American Civil Liberties Union to make sweeping changes to its employment, housing, and credit advertising policies, Color Of Change’s President Rashad Robinson issued the following statement:
“Today’s settlement agreements advance digital civil rights, key protections that Color Of Change has pushed Facebook to implement since our campaign for a civil rights audit began in 2016.
In public and private meetings, Color Of Change has repeatedly demanded Facebook settle these cases to demonstrate its commitment to addressing its role in perpetuating the prejudice our communities have historically faced across all sectors of society, and most especially in housing, employment and credit.
We are glad Facebook’s leadership took this positive step, but Facebook has also repeatedly failed to follow-through on its public promises. The settlement shows the limitations of current law to deal with the scope of discrimination in the digital age. This should be a signal to legislators and regulators that, despite previous claims to the contrary, it is possible for Facebook to control what happens on its platforms.
Color Of Change and it’s 1.5 million members will continue to hold the company accountable for policies and practices on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp that put our community in harm’s way. We expect Facebook to put the same level of effort into protecting the safety of Black users by eliminating violent hate speech, halting the censorship of Black activists, and continuing the civil rights audit in good faith. We look forward to continuing our work with them to make meaningful change.”
Color Of Change began pressuring Facebook about discrimination on the platform in 2015 and made its first demand for the civil audit in 2016. In November 2018, Color Of Change pushed Facebook to agree – for the first time ever – to the public release of the civil rights audit. The next phase of the civil rights audit will be released in June.
