Facebook removes filters that allowed advertisers to target antisemitic users

Some of the categories on the social networking platform were sometimes used by over 2,000 Internet users whose profiles expressed antisemitic opinions.
Target an anti-Semitic audience for marketing campaigns. It was possible Facebook, according to a survey of the site ProPublica (in English). The social network immediately asserted, Friday, September 15, that it would remove filters allowing advertisers to address advertisements to people with antisemitic sympathies on the social network.

Alerted by anonymous sources, ProPublica connected to Facebook's advertising platform and discovered that there were fields such as "hatred of the Jew" or categories of Internet users who had expressed interest in topics such as "how burning the Jews "or" how the Jews ruined the world ". The investigation site then informed Facebook.
Mark Zuckerberg's group explains that the anti-Semitic categories - the "Jewish hatred" targets about 2,300 registered profiles on the social network - were created automatically by algorithms based on information provided by users on their account. They are generated according to the preferences of each other.

"We have removed the fields related to this issue," said Rob Leathern, Product Manager for Facebook, in an email. "We know we still have a lot of work to do and are building new products and procedures to prevent such problems from arising in the future. "

source : .francetvinfo.fr