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Dozens of Companies Are Using Facebook to Exclude Older Workers From Job Ads

propublica.org

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Re: Dozens of Companies Are Using Facebook to Exclude Older Workers From Job Ads

#21

Post by Y7ZCQtNo39 »

danso wrote: post #3
derekp7 wrote: post #2

Is this different than advertising in a magazine that has a specific reader demographic? Or would that get a company in trouble too, if a the court rules that the intent was to exclude a given group?

It's against U.S. federal law for employers to discriminate against people aged 40-or-over on the basis of age. Having job ads that only younger people could see would seemingly fall afoul of that law: https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/adea.cfm

So they can pay to show the ads to job seekers 40+ but not hire them. Facebook makes more money, and they get to say they did some social good.

Seems like they should be advocating (at least in this use case) to stop the discrimination to increase profits.

Re: Dozens of Companies Are Using Facebook to Exclude Older Workers From Job Ads

#22

Post by jsmthrowaway »

derekp7 wrote: post #7
danso wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's against U.S. federal law for employers to discriminate against people aged 40-or-over on the basis of age. Having job ads that only younger people could see would seemingly fall afoul of that law: https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/adea.cfm

Is there any case law regarding this when it comes to physical publications? Because that case law could come into play in deciding the Facebook case. Hypothetical example: a local employer puts up a job flyer at a college campus, but does not put the flyer up at the senior center across town. I could see a court ruling this illegal, if the employer did this specifically to try to attract younger workers.

Seniors can still go to the college campus and see it. These ads are completely not shown by the system. Not a perfect comparison.

Re: Dozens of Companies Are Using Facebook to Exclude Older Workers From Job Ads

#23

Post by mankypro »

Laugh while you can monkey boys. That generation built the infrastructure you rely on daily. Way to pay it forward. Suddenly, they too will turn around and realize that they're above 40 and not in the preferred demo. It all comes around in the end. Sometimes the SDN boys need a salty old dog to ask if anyone has actually looked at the back of GigE interface to see if theres a cable actually plugged into it :)

Re: Dozens of Companies Are Using Facebook to Exclude Older Workers From Job Ads

#24

Post by mc32 »

tmh79 wrote: post #15

I'm astonished that facebook is successfully able to pull the "we're a platform, its not our fault people are using it illegally" excuse here. There is a huge difference between allowing people to freely post content on places like FB, twitter, or Reddit, and selling access the attention of people that fit specific characteristics. How long until the tech giants are held accountable for willfully skirting decades of…

Well, i dunno. I think it's still on the advertiser to follow the law.

Kind of like when some insurance co advertises some insurance product and that advert has to go through copy editors and legal to make sure it does not break any laws (representing product faithfully, not making false or dubious claims) before it gets okayed to be published.

In this case HR should consult with legal before putting up job announcements. Or, here specifically these cos should consult with legal before making that job req buy.

Re: Dozens of Companies Are Using Facebook to Exclude Older Workers From Job Ads

#26

Post by tptacek »

smallgovt wrote: post #18
danso wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's against U.S. federal law for employers to discriminate against people aged 40-or-over on the basis of age. Having job ads that only younger people could see would seemingly fall afoul of that law: https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/adea.cfm

I doubt it runs afoul of that law. Segmentation is a common characteristic of online advertising campaigns. A sophisticated advertiser never shows the same types of ads to young and old audiences (especially on Facebook) because the two audiences react drastically different. If your goal is to run efficient campaigns, you will always separate the two. As a result, the advertiser can simply claim that they separated t…

The premise of the CWA lawsuit is that recruiting advertising is not like other advertising, and must comply with anti-discrimination employment law.

Re: Dozens of Companies Are Using Facebook to Exclude Older Workers From Job Ads

#27

Post by fpisfun »

I would do this before I deleted my Facebook account when I ran ads not to intentionally exclude people but because I figured people over a certain age probably wouldn't know the technologies I was looking for and I figured I would probably end up paying for false positive ad clicks

Re: Dozens of Companies Are Using Facebook to Exclude Older Workers From Job Ads

#28

Post by maxxxxx »

mankypro wrote: post #23

Laugh while you can monkey boys. That generation built the infrastructure you rely on daily. Way to pay it forward. Suddenly, they too will turn around and realize that they're above 40 and not in the preferred demo. It all comes around in the end. Sometimes the SDN boys need a salty old dog to ask if anyone has actually looked at the back of GigE interface to see if theres a cable actually plugged into it :)

Don't forget that nothing meaningful ever was built before Javascript.

Re: Dozens of Companies Are Using Facebook to Exclude Older Workers From Job Ads

#29

Post by tmh79 »

mc32 wrote: post #24
tmh79 wrote: post #15

I'm astonished that facebook is successfully able to pull the "we're a platform, its not our fault people are using it illegally" excuse here. There is a huge difference between allowing people to freely post content on places like FB, twitter, or Reddit, and selling access the attention of people that fit specific characteristics. How long until the tech giants are held accountable for willfully skirting decades of…

Well, i dunno. I think it's still on the advertiser to follow the law. Kind of like when some insurance co advertises some insurance product and that advert has to go through copy editors and legal to make sure it does not break any laws (representing product faithfully, not making false or dubious claims) before it gets okayed to be published. In this case HR should consult with legal before putting up job announcem…

Facebook is selling advertising.

In this specific case, the product they are selling is illegal.

Facebook should be held liable for selling illegal advertising.

Do people find this challenging? Is there something wrong with this?

Re: Dozens of Companies Are Using Facebook to Exclude Older Workers From Job Ads

#30

Post by pmc1 »

tmh79 wrote: post #15

I'm astonished that facebook is successfully able to pull the "we're a platform, its not our fault people are using it illegally" excuse here. There is a huge difference between allowing people to freely post content on places like FB, twitter, or Reddit, and selling access the attention of people that fit specific characteristics. How long until the tech giants are held accountable for willfully skirting decades of…

Facebook turns the blind eye once again. They don't want to be held responsible for what's posted on their platform. Facebook is enabling discrimination. I left facebook 2 1/2 years ago very happy with the decision
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