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 Défenseur 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, giving the company three months to inform the French body of the measures.
In its ruling, the regulator said the “system implemented for disseminating job offers treats users of the Facebook platform differently based on their sex and constitutes indirect discrimination related to sex”.
The watchdog’s decision 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. Eight out of 10 people who saw ads for psychologist positions were women, while seven out of 10 ads for pilots were viewed by men.
Global Witness, together with French women’s rights organisations the Foundation for Women (La Fondation des Femmes) and Women Engineers (Femmes Ingénieurs), which had complained to the rights body, welcomed the ruling.
“This appears to be the first time a European regulator has decided that a social media platform’s algorithm discriminates by gender, presenting a major step forward in holding these platforms accountable to existing law,” they said in a joint statement.
Josephine Shefet, a lawyer representing the complainants, said: “The decision sends a strong message to all digital platforms: They will be held accountable for such bias. The legal principle establishes an important precedent for future cases.”
Meta rejected the ruling. “We disagree with this decision and are assessing our options,” a spokesperson said.
In 2022, Meta agreed to change Facebook’s algorithms after the US Department of Justice alleged the platform’s housing advertising system discriminated against users based on characteristics including race, religion and sex.