Advertisers for Aspiration's Zero credit card requested that Facebook hide one of its ads from anyone who was under the age of 25.
The ad stated "get the credit card that plants a tree with every purchase" and had "One Card, Zero Footprint" as its tagline.
"Earlier this week Facebook told me under oath it does not allow the use of characteristics like age when targeting ads for financial services," said Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii in a post to her Facebook account. "This report suggests that testimony was false. I have some serious questions. And I expect accurate answers."
This is not the only time Facebook has been accused of filtering ads by age.
An ad for Hometap was only visible to American users over the age of 35. Hometap exchanges cash for shares in home equity.
A November 2019 lawsuit issued by civil rights groups also accused Facebook of age restricting ads for the financial companies Chime and Aspiration. This is an alleged violation of Facebook's own policies on anti-discrimination and was alleged to violate civil rights laws at the state and federal level. The lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice.
The Markup found two more alleged examples of financial services ads being limited to certain age groups.
Monika Bickert, the Facebook vice president for content policy, expressed her continued support for the company's anti-discrimination policies at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing earlier in the week.