A lawsuit filed this week by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) alleges that Facebook and certain advertisers have practiced gender discrimination by targeting only men with job ads on the platform.
On Tuesday, the ACLU filed suit with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against Facebook and 10 of its advertisers, arguing that the platform's targeted advertising tools have violated federal civil rights laws by preventing women and older men from seeing job ads.
According to the suit, Facebook allowed advertisers to specifically show men various job ads on the platform, effectively blocking women, non-binary individuals, and others outside the targeted group from seeing the employment opportunities. The ACLU also argued that job ads targeted only to men were often for positions in “well-paid, blue-collar fields from which women have traditionally been excluded.”
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In an announcement for the lawsuit, ACLU attorney Galen Sherwin wrote, "Facebook must change its platform to prevent advertisers from exploiting user data for discriminatory purposes, and ensure once and for all that all users, regardless of gender, race, age, or other protected status, are given a fair shake."
Filed on behalf of three job seekers and the labor union Communications Workers of America (CWA), the suit names Facebook as well as the City of Greensboro North Carolina, JK Moving Services, Enhanced Roofing & Modeling, abas USA, Inc., and six other advertisers as defendants. The suit also proposes a potential class-action pool to include millions of job seekers who use the platform.
In response to the ACLU's allegations, abas USA, Inc. commented in an online statement and breakdown of its ads, "The allegations against abas USA, Inc. in the EEOC complaint filed by the [CWA] are irresponsible and false. We did not use targeted Facebook ads to exclude women. Just the opposite. We used a targeted ad in Facebook to specifically include women."
The ads in question allegedly targeted users by age, location, and gender, often leaving non-men and men over 55 out of the desired viewership entirely. In response to ongoing pressure from users and the media to reveal its targeting methods, Facebook has been allowing users to see which personal attributes it's using to select their ads, including with specific advertisements.
ACLU attorney Galen Sherwin explained,
Facebook requires users to identify their sex in the binary categories of male or female in order to even open an account. While users can later change their sex designation and select from among a few dozen options to describe their gender identity, Facebook still requires users to choose gendered pronouns (male, female, or neutral), which it then offers to advertisers for purposes of gender-based ad targeting. Facebook delivers the ad accordingly, including a notice that the user is seeing the ad because of their sex.
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The social media giant has increasingly faced scrutiny over potential discrimination related to targeted advertising tools and other behind-the-scenes methods for determining who sees what content.
In addition to Facebook's latest suit by the ACLU, the Huffington Post pointed out, "It’s also been sued for allowing advertisers to discriminate in who sees their housing ads ... and criticized for allowing its algorithms to create advertising categories for people who express interest in the topics of 'Jew hater,' 'How to burn jews' or 'History of ‘why jews ruin the world.’” WIRED also reflected, "Facebook has faced lawsuits, media exposés, and even federal charges alleging that its ad-targeting tools help advertisers discriminate based on age or race for jobs, housing, and credit."
Facebook has denied the accusations of gender and age discrimination on the platform, reiterating its ongoing stance that there is "no place for discrimination on Facebook."
Facebook spokesman Joe Osborne commented in a statement to press, "[I]t’s strictly prohibited in our policies, and over the past year, we’ve strengthened our systems to further protect against misuse." Osborne also noted, "We are reviewing the complaint and look forward to defending our practices.”
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[Updated 9/21/2018 7:55pm EDT to include statement from abas USA, Inc.]
