Facebook allows gender-biased job ads on its platform, ACLU claims

NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook is allowing job ads on its platform that exclude women, according to the American Civil liberties Union.

In a complaint filed Tuesday with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the ACLU lists 10 employers that it claims have placed ads on Facebook that violate federal and state discrimination laws. Changes Facebook made to its ads systems this year to prevent discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion and other characteristics didn’t extend to gender, the group said.

Facebook responded quickly, saying that there is “no place for discrimination” on its platform and that it will defend its practices once it can review the complaint.

The ACLU and the Communications Workers of America labor union say the ads target potential job applicants based on gender. This includes women as well as people who do not identify as either men or women, or “non-binary” people.

The complaint was filed on behalf of three women, living in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois, who allegedly were not shown ads for jobs in traditionally male-dominated fields, even though they appeared qualified for those positions.  The ads, which appeared over the course of several months in 2017 and 2018, were for jobs such as tire salesman, mechanic, roofing worker and security engineer.