MAM
Facebook to end discriminatory ad targeting
MUMBAI: Facebook has signed an agreement with the state of Washington to stop third-party advertisers from excluding protected groups and minorities from seeing their ads.
The social media platform has announced that the move is part of a long process to make sure that the tools and filters used to target ads on Facebook are fair, civil and safe, according to Reuters.
“We’ve removed thousands of categories related to potentially sensitive personal attributes — like race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and religion — from our exclusion targeting tools,” the company said in a statement.
Washington attorney general Bob Ferguson said, “Facebook’s advertising platform allowed unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, sexual orientation, disability and religion.”
Now, Facebook will have to make the necessary changes on the platform nationwide within 90 days.
The agreement will also include a 20-month investigation by Washington State’s office that began after non-profit ProPublica published an article on Facebook’s advertisement targeting alleging advertisers could exclude users by race.
Facebook vice president of state and local policy Will Castleberry said in a statement: “Discriminatory advertising has no place on our platform, and we’ll continue to improve our ad products so they’re relevant, effective, and safe for everyone.”
Facebook has faced several legal actions over its advertising policies. In March this year, National Fair Housing Alliance sued the social media giant for excluding groups of people based on characteristics such as family status or sex from receiving ads about housing.
MAM
WPP appoints Estée Lauder’s Anne-Isabelle Choueiri as chief transformation officer
Former Estée Lauder executive to lead operations, technology and culture overhaul under WPP’s three-year growth plan
LONDON: WPP has appointed Anne-Isabelle Choueiri as chief transformation officer in a newly created role tasked with delivering the group’s Elevate28 strategy.
Choueiri joins from The Estée Lauder Companies, where she led enterprise-wide strategic initiatives, including the “One ELC” operating model and major upgrades to enterprise marketing, data and analytics capabilities. She also led the redesign of enterprise technology teams and served on the company’s AI taskforce, driving AI strategy, adoption and value realisation across the business.
At WPP, she will be responsible for designing, implementing and embedding the operating model behind Elevate28, the company’s three-year growth plan unveiled in February 2026. She will lead efforts to improve innovation, efficiency and integration across WPP’s client offerings, with a focus on delivering agile, outcome-driven solutions and measurable growth.
Choueiri will oversee organisational transformation across the group, working closely with product and enterprise technology teams to deploy AI, data and technology to build new capabilities and improve operational performance. She will also work with the people function to embed cultural change, strengthen an agile performance mindset and support talent development across the organisation.
Before joining Estée Lauder, she held senior roles across consulting and digital agencies, including at Accenture, Masaï (a Bain & Company spin-off), and Kearney, with experience spanning strategy, data and digital marketing transformation.
Cindy Rose, chief executive officer of WPP, said Choueiri brings a strong track record of leading large-scale transformation across operations, technology and culture, adding that her appointment will help accelerate the group’s next phase of growth under Elevate28.
Choueiri said WPP’s strategy represents an ambitious opportunity to reshape how the company operates and delivers for clients, adding that she looks forward to building integrated solutions and fostering a culture of innovation and change.
She will be based in New York and will join WPP’s executive committee.
