Meta launches AI-based VRS system to reduce bias in advertising

Meta has launched the AI-based Variance Reduction System (VRS) in the US, to reduce bias in the distribution of advertisements, after working in partnership with the Department of Justice for a year. 

The company had announced its plan to create VRS for equitable distribution of ads as a part of a settlement with the DOJ, which was representing the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in June last year. 

The development of VRS was part of the settlement for a complaint raised in August 2018, in which Meta social network platforms were accused of violating the Fair Housing Act, based on their targeting options and delivery processes for housing advertisements. The company’s ads were said to facilitate certain demographic groups over others, through indirect profiling. 

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