The plaintiff argued the lost opportunity to receive information about Next's products and services was discriminatory advertising. (Credit: leremy/Adobe Stock)
A commercial auto insurance company used for small businesses was hit with a class action that claimed it excluded women and older people from seeing advertising on social media.
Next Insurance Inc. allegedly specifically sent its advertisements to younger men on social media platforms, which violates the Unruh Civil Rights Act and section 51.5 of the California Civil Code, the complaint claimed. This complaint was surfaced by Law.com Radar.
The named plaintiff, Marie Giordano, is a 64-year-old woman who lives in California and regularly uses the Meta platform Facebook. The proposed class includes California Facebook users who are women or at least 40 years old and were denied access to Next's advertisements due to their age and gender, the complaint said.
The class is represented by Jahan Sagafi and Alina Pastor-Chermak of Outten & Golden. Counsel for the plaintiff did not respond to a request for comment.
Giordano argued the lost opportunity to receive information about Next's products and services was discriminatory advertising.
"The insurance opportunity ads that Next places on Facebook help ordinary people to obtain information about insurance products and services, to decide whether to obtain new insurance or keep their current coverage, and to facilitate applications for products and services that save them money or provide them with better protection and financial security," the complaint said. "Withholding this information from women and older people regrettably locks in and amplifies the historical discrimination that women and older people face. This is what digital redlining looks like in the Twenty-First Century."
According to the class action, Next's advertisements use Meta's audience selection tool to choose to only advertise to men in a younger age range.
"Next follows step-by-step instructions provided by Meta on how to click through the various, pre-populated menus to 'include' certain types of people and 'exclude' certain types of people," the complaint alleged.
Next Insurance's media team did not respond to a request for comment.
In the past, Facebook itself has faced legal action for alleged digital redlining, particularly surrounding housing, employment and credit advertising. In 2019, Facebook settled five lawsuits brought by civil rights advocates, and agreed to make changes to prevent advertisers from discriminating based on race, sex, sexual orientation and other protected groups under federal law.
On June 21, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement with Meta, which resolved allegations that the platform had violated the Fair Housing Act by allowing advertisers to target housing ads based on categories like race, religion, sex and disability.
The present case does not name Facebook as a defendant.
The class claimed Next Insurance violated the California Unruh Civil Rights Act. According to the complaint, the California Court of Appeal has ruled in the 2023 case Liapes v. Facebook, Inc. that intentionally targeting ads based on age and gender violates the act.
In addition, Giordano claimed the defendant violated section 51.5 California Civil Code, which prevents businesses from "refusing to provide services" to people based on age and race, which the plaintiff claimed includes being denied advertisements and information about Next Insurance.
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