Facebook Commits to Long Overdue Civil Rights Audit

WASHINGTON – Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement on the announcement by Facebook that it will conduct a civil rights audit of the company’s practices:

“We are encouraged by Facebook’s commitment to conduct a civil rights audit of the company and its products, and the team they have selected to do it. The Leadership Conference, along with other organizations, called forsuch a review. The process should be transparent and engage the civil rights community. We will remain vigilant until Facebook does everything in its power to reduce the civil rights harm its platform enables.”

In 2014, The Leadership Conference and a broad coalition of civil, human, and media rights organizations released Civil Rights Principles for the Era of Big Data, urging companies and the government to develop and use modern technologies in ways that will promote equal opportunity and equal justice. Those principles are available here.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.