Facebook used anti-Semitic ad categories, report says

(FOX News) -- Facebook enabled advertisers to target the news feeds of users who expressed anti-Semitic interests, according to a report by ProPublica Thursday.

ProPublica said it paid Facebook $30 to display three so-called "promoted posts" in the news feeds of people who expressed interest in topics like "Jew hater," "How to burn jews," or, "History of 'why jews ruin the world.'"

"Facebook approved all three ads within 15 minutes," the site said in its report.

ProPublica said Facebook removed the anti-Semitic categories after the social network was alerted to them this week.

In an email to Fox News, a Facebook spokeswoman said the anti-Semitic categories were "self-reported based on how people filled out their profiles."

"Essentially, users filling out their profiles may have added descriptions like 'Jew hater'," the spokeswoman wrote, "which then would appear to advertisers as potential categories of users to which ads could be directed, no algorithm involved."