Facebook’s Civil Rights Audit In addition to the efforts referenced above, Facebook has said that it is continuing to invest in approaches to studying and addressing such issues, and is consulting with experts globally to help refine its approach to algorithmic fairness generally and concerns related to ads delivery in particular. The Auditors believe that it is critical that Facebook���s expert consultations include engagement with those who have specific expertise in civil rights, bias, and discrimination concepts (including specifically fair housing, fair lending, and employment discrimination), and their application to algorithms. More details on Facebook’s work can be found in the Algorithmic Bias section of this report. From the Auditors’ perspective, participating in stakeholder meetings and engaging with academics and experts is generally positive, but it does not reflect the level of urgency felt in the civil rights community for Facebook to take action to address long-standing discrimination concerns with Facebook’s ad system — specifically ad delivery. The civil rights community views the most recent Upturn study as further indication that the concern they have been expressing for years — that Facebook’s ad system can lead to biased or discriminatory results — may be wellplaced. And while civil rights advocates certainly do not want Facebook to get it wrong when it comes to data about sensitive personal characteristics or measuring algorithmic fairness, they are concerned that it is taking Facebook too long to get it right — and harm is being done in the interim. 75