
ACLU files charges against Facebook for targeting job ads to young males - guelo
https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/1042042609781362689
======
leibwiht
Why on earth wouldn't someone looking for a job where 90% of the people are
males advertise mainly to people that are also males? Also, I didn't know
being advertised at was a civil liberty. I wish the ACLU would spend less time
on inane things like this and more time on stuff that matters.

~~~
elipsey
Is access to employment is an "inane" concern? Is it moral, or legal, for
employers to algorithmically exclude arbitrary classes from receiving or
discovering job listings?

Consider expanding this sort of technique to monster/linkdin/glassdoor/etc so
that you aren't shown job listings because it can be inferred that you are
probably over 30, or Republican, for example.

It seems that ACLU wants to use this as a test case to clarify what is or
isn't legal before this practice becomes a pervasive part of the employment
market.

~~~
SamReidHughes
How is access to employment improved by making job ads more expensive?

~~~
elipsey
Would you care to make a more detailed argument or proposal? I'm willing, in
general, to be persuaded by a good argument, but you'll have to show your
work. :)

~~~
drak0n1c
If roofing job advertisers are forced to spend half of their budget on a
demographic that objectively clicks through at a drastically lower rate, they
will have to spend 2X more money to reach the same number of workers that they
used to reach.

Making advertising those jobs on Facebook 2X more expensive is an incentive
for those firms to revert to alternative hiring habits that are even more
nepotistic, reducing overall access to employment.

~~~
mmt
> spend half of their budget on a demographic objectively clicks through at a
> drastically lower rate, they will have to spend 2X more money

This reasoning pre-supposes that only CPM-style ads are available, to the
exclusion of CPC or CPA, but that seems unlikely on a platform as modern as
FB.

------
SamReidHughes
The new, modern ACLU wants careful regulation of speech when it gets in the
way of progressive goals.

------
Meph504
I really don't see how the companies placing the ads, aren't going to get
hammered for it. But Facebook is doing nothing illegal, unless the ads, were
placed for jobs with facebook. Just as newspaper/radio/tv aren't required not
to post job adverts that violate the EEOC's rules.

For clarity, According to the EEOC
([https://www1.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/index.cfm?renderforprin...](https://www1.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/index.cfm?renderforprint=1))

Recruitment

It is also illegal for an employer to recruit new employees in a way that
discriminates against them because of their race, color, religion, sex
(including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national
origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information.

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.

------
BadassFractal
To play the devil's advocate, aren't there legitimate use cases for this?

e.g. you are paying men to be part of a test trial for a male contraceptive
such as
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversible_inhibition_of_sperm...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversible_inhibition_of_sperm_under_guidance)
, which is still in the trial phases in the US. You're looking for individuals
with gonads, and having those highly correlates with being male. Why would you
spend ad budget on women's impressions for the above?

Whether that falls under "jobs" category is not clear to me.

