Facebook enables gender discrimination in job ads, European human rights body rules

A European human rights body has ruled that Facebook’s algorithm shows gender bias when promoting job advertisements, marking what activists say is a crucial step in holding big tech companies accountable for the design of their platforms.

A European human rights body has ruled that Facebook’s algorithm shows gender bias when promoting job advertisements, marking what activists say is a crucial step in holding big tech companies accountable for the design of their platforms. The Netherlands Institute for Human Rights said in a February 18 decision that Facebook’s algorithm reinforced gender stereotypes by mainly showing “typically female professions” to female Facebook users in the Netherlands and that Meta (META), the social platform’s owner, should have monitored and adjusted its algorithm to prevent that. The Institute’s decision follows CNN As Equals reporting revealing that Facebook users in Europe were missing out on job opportunities due to gender bias. The 2023 article was based on findings shared with CNN by international non-profit Global Witness, which investigated Facebook’s job ads and found that ads in the Netherlands and five other countries often targeted users based on historical gender stereotypes. For example, ads for mechanic positions were predominantly shown to men, while those for preschool teacher roles were primarily directed to women. Global Witness said its experiments in the Netherlands, France, India, Ireland, the United Kingdom and South Africa demonstrated that the algorithm perpetuated similar biases around the world. The non-profit’s investigation led to four complaints from the Dutch human rights group Bureau Clara Wichmann and the French organization Fondation des Femmes. The Netherlands Institute for Human Rights said in its February ruling that Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd., which manages Facebook ads in Europe, failed to demonstrate that its advertising algorithm does not engage in prohibited gender discrimination. The Dutch body said Facebook must revise its advertising algorithm to prevent further discrimination.