The Office of the Attorney General Secures Legal Victory Stopping Harris County Clerk from Weaponizing Racially Discriminatory Election Advertising

The Office of the Attorney General ("OAG") secured a legal victory requiring the Harris County Clerk's Office to remove election advertisements that used race-based targeting settings. Additionally, the secured settlement stops the Harris County Clerk's office from reactivating discriminatory settings.

Previously, the OAG filed a lawsuit against the Harris County Clerk and the Harris County Clerk's Director of Communications after discovering that the office had paid to target election advertisements based on race and ethnicity. The Harris County Clerk's Office used Meta's advertising tools to intentionally target its "Get Out the Vote" advertisements toward certain racial and ethnic groups while excluding others.

Because Attorney General Ken Paxton is a candidate on the November ballot, he recused himself from the lawsuit. The action was brought by the state of Texas through the Office of the Attorney General.

Under the secured agreement, the Harris County Clerk's Office has agreed to remove the advertisements that used racially discriminatory targeting settings and refrain from reactivating those settings during the applicable election period.