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Facebook Is Letting Job Advertisers Target Only Men

propublica.org

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Re: Facebook Is Letting Job Advertisers Target Only Men

#191

Post by MarkMc »

King-Aaron wrote: post #175

So the argument, as I see it here, is that companies should be forced to spend additional resources advertising to demographics that they have identified as not strong leads in their campaigns, so that overly virtuous people can feel happy about them spending money on something that likely won't concern them in the slightest. Righto. If the article's title was "Facebook is letting job advertisers target only women" o…

Suppose I determine that advertising my software developer position to white people provides a better return than to black people. Wouldn't it be unfair to only advertise to whites?

In some ways this is similar to how an employer cannot ask a potential employee if she is pregnant. Allowing the question might maximise the company's profit but would be considered unfair to women.

Re: Facebook Is Letting Job Advertisers Target Only Men

#193

Post by PeterisP »

contem wrote: post #18

From the original pitch deck: > thefacebook.com allows for targeted advertisement on the basis of any (or a combination of) the following parameters: > College/University, Sexual Orientation, Degree Type, Zip Code, Concentration, Dating interests, Courses taken, Personal Interests, Class Year, Clubs and Jobs, House/Dormitory, Political Bent, Age, Number of friends, Gender, Site Usage. So blatant targeted advertisemen…

There's a difference between the types of advertisement. It's okay to target ads based on gender if you're advertising shirts or shampoo or whatever. It's illegal if you're advertising jobs.

Re: Facebook Is Letting Job Advertisers Target Only Men

#194

Post by Endy »

kakarot wrote: post #62

This is a situation where you must ask yourself the very difficult question of what is more important, individual freedom or equality? I think it goes beyond egalitarianism, because I certainly think any female who wants to become a highly-paid programmer should be able to do so simply by building merit, without any additional barriers. I also think that any person, male or female, has the right to decide what demogr…

To paraphrase Judge Dredd on this one, The Law is what's most important. The law is written to oppose injustice and as part of doing so, inequity Follow the law. Work to have it changed if you think your public persona can survive fighting the EEOC's existence and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But follow the law first whether you like it or not, whether it's "profitable" or not.

Re: Facebook Is Letting Job Advertisers Target Only Men

#195

Post by Endy »

horsecaptin wrote: post #132

Does this mean that any company that targets an ad to men / women only on social media platforms can be sued for discrimination?

No, this is specific to employment law. You can advertise products or services to whomever you wish. Employment must have equal opportunity.

Re: Facebook Is Letting Job Advertisers Target Only Men

#197

Post by Endy »

zonidjan wrote: post #133

Funny thing: it's not illegal to only hire men. Just like Hooter's would never hire a (male) waiter.

Hooter's gets in with a loophole. Their waitresses are technically "entertainers", which means that their cup size could actually be considered a BFOQ. It's a weird middle space that exists because Congress in the '60s was concerned about Hollywood and Broadway.

Re: Facebook Is Letting Job Advertisers Target Only Men

#198

Post by PeterisP »

hajile wrote: post #86

I see a bunch of claims, but is this actually illegal in the US? More specifically, is it illegal to selectively advertise a job provided that the business doesn't profile during actual hiring? If I post job listings in upper-class white neighborhoods only, would that be illegal? What if I had one ad that targeted men and another which targeted women? What if the male version was designed to be successful while the f…

Yes, USA laws require that jobs be advertised on a nondiscriminatory basis.

https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/index.cfm is a decent summary. All the examples you provide would be illegal. As the provided example states "For example, an employer's reliance on word-of-mouth recruitment by its mostly Hispanic work force may violate the law if the result is that almost all new hires are Hispanic."

Re: Facebook Is Letting Job Advertisers Target Only Men

#199

Post by IanCal »

jamescostian wrote: post #24
gascan wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly don't even understand the purpose of advertising anything to only men or only women. If you pay per view, it's entirely rational to target towards the demographic that produces the most spend for your ad budget. Why would you waste money advertising, e.g., mascara or sanitary pads to men? Sure, there's probably some infinitesimal fraction of men who would be interested, but targeting them profitably is not…

Why would you waste money advertising to women who don't want mascara or don't need pads? I would think you'd be better of targetting people who bought some sort of eye makeup if you wanted to sell mascara, and target people who bought pads or tampons if you were selling pads.

> Why would you waste money advertising to women who don't want mascara or don't need pads?

Because you don't know in advance. It's entirely why advertisers offer so many different bits of information on you, to optimise this.

> I would think you'd be better of targetting people who bought some sort of eye makeup if you wanted to sell mascara, and target people who bought pads or tampons if you were selling pads.

And people do this, if they have this information. Of course, there's also the side that you don't want to advertise to someone you strongly expect to buy, because it's the conversions from no-sale to sale you care about.

Re: Facebook Is Letting Job Advertisers Target Only Men

#200

Post by PeterisP »

horsecaptin wrote: post #132

Does this mean that any company that targets an ad to men / women only on social media platforms can be sued for discrimination?

No, there are a bunch of areas that have specific laws prohibiting gender discrimination. Employment is one of them, housing and credit also have similar laws, but not most consumer goods and services.
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