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Facebook looks for men in job ads, not women: ACLU

Tuesday, 18 September 2018 6:03 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 18 September 2018 6:06 PM ]

This photo taken on March 22, 2018 shows a computer screen displaying the logo of the social networking site Facebook, in Manchester, England. (Photo by AFP)

A US-based rights group has filed a complaint against Facebook for discrimination against women.

Facebook violated labor and civil rights laws by allowing job ads on its platform that excluded women, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) .

The ACLU launched its lawsuit at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on Tuesday.

The lawsuit by the ACLU was taken in joint legal action with the law firm Outten & Golden, and the Communications Workers of America, which represents more than 700,000 workers.

In the lawsuit ACLU claims that Facebook allowed employers to target ads to men, to the exclusion of women, and gender-nonbinary job-seekers – those people who do not identify as either men or women.

In addition to Facebook, the ACLU named 10 companies that placed ads allegedly targeting only men.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of three women, living in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois, who allegedly were not shown ads for job vacancies in fields traditionally dominated by men, such as tire salesman, mechanic and roofing worker.

The ads had run over the course of several months in 2017 and 2018.

Facebook, which has a history of discrimination, claimed it was free of any sort of discrimination.

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In response to the latest complaint, Facebook said there was "no place for discrimination" on its social platform.

“There is no place for discrimination on Facebook; it’s strictly prohibited in our policies. We look forward to defending our practices once we have an opportunity to review the complaint,” Joe Osborne, a spokesperson for Facebook, said in a statement to media on Tuesday.

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