Enlarge / The lawsuit alleges that Pinterest does indeed have a darker side. (credit: Thomas Trutschel | Photothek | Getty Images )

A group of shareholders is suing Pinterest and its board of directors, alleging that the company violated its fiduciary duty, wasted corporate assets, and abused its control by fostering a systematic culture of racial and gender discrimination that drove out women executives.

Pinterest's top executives and the board "personally engaged in, facilitated, or knowingly ignored the discrimination and retaliation against those who spoke up and challenged the company's white, male leadership clique," according to the suit ( PDF ). As Pinterest's user base heavily skews female, being publicly seen as a den of sexism and racism is damaging to the brand and therefore to the shareholders, the suit alleges.

"Pinterest’s leadership and Board take their fiduciary duties seriously and are committed to continuing our efforts to help ensure that Pinterest is a place where all of our employees feel included and supported," a company spokesperson said in a written statement. "We believe the actions we’ve initiated as well as the ongoing independent review regarding our culture, policies, and practices will help us achieve our goal of building a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment for everyone."

Enlarge / A Pinterest logo seen displayed on a smartphone. (credit: Mateusz Slodkowski | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images )

The former chief operating officer of Pinterest is suing her ex-employer, claiming that the platform's woman-friendly public face is not matched internally and instead "reflects a pattern of discrimination and exclusion."

Pinterest hired Francoise Brougher as chief operating officer in March 2018, then fired her in April of this year. In a lawsuit ( PDF ) Tuesday in California, Brougher claims that her dismissal was unrelated to her performance and was instead in retaliation for complaining about sexism.

Brougher learned in 2019, while reviewing filings that Pinterest was required to make as part of its IPO, that she had been deliberately misled about executive compensation. She was, therefore, being paid less well than other C-suite executives, the suit alleges. After she brought the discrepancy to the attention of Chief Executive Officer Ben Silbermann, she began being squeezed out of executive and board meetings, Brougher alleged, which prevented her from being able to do her job.

Enlarge / A sign on the street is visible to anyone who walks or drives by. A sign online can be strategically, and illegally, targeted away from people against whom you may have a bias. (credit: Getty Images )

Google is taking action to reduce unlawful discrimination on its advertising platform a year after the federal government sued its largest competitor, Facebook, over the same thing.

The company is "introducing a new personalized advertising policy for certain types of ads," a Google executive shared in a company blog post today. The policy prohibits entities placing ads for employment, housing, or credit services from targeting or excluding ads "based on gender, age, parental status, marital status, or ZIP Code."

The federal Fair Housing Act explicitly prohibits landlords and sellers from discriminating against potential renters or buyers on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability. ("Family status" includes a ban on discriminating against someone who is pregnant or families with children.) That applies to the advertising of units as well as who actually gets to sign the lease or the mortgage and what they have to pay.