"The French equalities regulator has ruled that Facebook's algorithm for placing job adverts is sexist, after an investigation found that adverts for mechanic roles skewed towards men while those for preschool teachers were targeted at women. The Defenseur des Droits watchdog said the Facebook system for targeted job ads treated users differently based on their sex, and constituted indirect discrimination. The regulator recommended that Facebook and its parent company, Meta, took measures to ensure adverts were non-discriminatory,"
"The watchdog's verdict came after Global Witness, a campaign group whose remit includes investigating big tech's impact on human rights, posted adverts on Facebook containing links to a range of jobs in countries including France, the UK, Ireland and South Africa. The study found that in France specifically nine out of 10 people shown an advert for mechanic vacancies were male, while the same proportion of recipients of ads for preschool teachers were female."
The Defenseur des Droits found Facebook's job-ad targeting system treated users differently by sex and amounted to indirect discrimination. An investigation and a Global Witness experiment showed mechanic vacancies were shown predominantly to men while preschool teacher and psychologist ads were shown predominantly to women; pilot ads were mostly viewed by men. The regulator ordered Meta and Facebook to implement measures to ensure job adverts are non-discriminatory and gave the company three months to report steps taken. French women's rights organisations and campaign groups welcomed the ruling as a major step in holding social media algorithms accountable.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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