The Harris County Clerk's Office changed advertising settings on online get-out-the-vote ads on Thursday night, after the Texas Attorney General's Office sued over the settings. The Attorney General's Office described the settings as "racially discriminatory" in how they targeted certain voters.
The lawsuit alleges the ads targeted Black, Latino and Asian voters while excluding "European ethnicities." It says ads on Meta platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, used tags such as African-American literature, Latin music, Hispanic kitchen, East Asia, 27 countries and several foreign cities, including Madrid and Bangkok. The suit asks a Harris County district judge to order the ads pulled or reconfigured. It also argues the clerk's office acted unconstitutionally.
In a statement late Thursday, Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth said the audience tags were removed "to avoid unnecessary distractions" from the election. The article reports it is unclear how the removal affects the Attorney General's Office lawsuit.