Lawsuit Accuses Facebook Of Assisting Gender Discrimination In Employment Ads

Facebook over the years has become something of a one-stop shop for socializing, reading news and even finding employment. On Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg’s mammoth social network ran into legal trouble, as a group of women seeking employment sued the company, as well as several employers, for discriminatory job ads, the New York Times reported.

The issue was not with the content of the ads, but with their placement, according to the lawsuit. The women alleged that Facebook ads for decent, high-paying jobs were targeted towards men. That may constitute gender discrimination on either the federal or state level not only for the companies that paid for those ads, but for Facebook.

Nine employers were targeted by the lawsuit, which was filed in conjunction with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Communications Workers of America.

A Pennsylvania woman, Bobbi Spees, spotted that during her job search she was not getting ads for the same kinds of jobs as her husband. Along with job seekers Linda Bradley and Renia Hudson, the group claims Facebook violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

Facebook’s commitment to increased ad transparency means users can click on an ad and find out for whom it was aimed.

One of the ads specifically mentioned in the Times report was for an assembly position at Nebraska Furniture Mart of Texas. Clicking on the ad revealed it was targeted specifically to men between the ages of 18 and 50. Lawyers allege that Facebook was not simultaneously showing ads for the same positions to women.

Discrimination laws might theoretically make it illegal for Facebook’s ad operation to work the way it does. Employers can choose to exclude men or women when they pay for a job ad on the site. Whether or not Facebook is liable for that is another story, as it depends on whether or not the site counts as an employment agency.

However, as the Times report pointed out, certain states like California hold anyone who aids and abets discriminatory practices like that liable, meaning Facebook might not be safe in those states.

Facebook recently announced it would remove around 5,000 ad categories, so advertisers could no longer target customers based on race or religion. The company was accused earlier this year of enabling discriminatory housing practices by allowing landlords to advertise living spaces based on things like race and gender.