Algorithmic Bias in Job Ads on Meta (Real Women in Trucking v. Meta)
On December 1, 2022, Real Women in Trucking, a non-profit group that advocates for women truck drivers, filed a class action charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against Meta Platforms, alleging that Meta routinely discriminates against women and older people when deciding which users receive employers’ job ads on Facebook.
The 44-page charge offers compelling evidence—based on Meta’s own data about numerous job ads published by employers on Facebook—that Meta has engaged in discriminatory job advertising that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and analogous state and local laws. The charge shows how Meta’s “ad-delivery algorithm”—which decides which eligible users will receive each ad—routinely disfavors workers who are 55 and older. The algorithm also routinely shows job ads to over 90% men when Meta associates the job with men (or to 90%-plus women when Meta associates the job with women).
In some cases, although employers directed Facebook to send their job ads to people of all genders and ages, Meta delivered the ads to users who are over 99% male or 99% younger than 55 years old—despite the fact that women are 54% of the Facebook users who are interested in job hunting and people 55 and older are over 28% of the same group of users. With 239 million American users, Facebook is a common place for employers to advertise jobs. Each day, over 30,000 different ads for jobs are published to millions of Facebook users across the United States.
In 2019, as part of a historic settlement with civil rights and labor groups, Facebook agreed to prohibit advertisers from relying on users’ race, gender, age, or other protected characteristics to exclude them from receiving job, housing, or credit ads. At the time of the accord, advocates and academics cautioned that even if employers could no longer exclude all women or older people from receiving their job ads, Facebook’s ad-delivery algorithm could replicate the same problem by showing certain job ads to nearly all men or younger people. Facebook acknowledged and agreed to study this problem, but Facebook did not commit to take any action to prevent such algorithmic bias. Real Women in Trucking’s charge confirms that advocates were justified in worrying that Facebook’s ad-delivery algorithm would replicate the problem of gender and age bias by steering job ads.
Real Women in Trucking and putative class are represented by PRF Law and Upturn, a non-profit organization that advocates equity and justice in the design, governance, and use of technology.
The case is known as Real Women in Trucking et al. v. Meta Platforms, Inc., No. 570-2023-00655 (EEOC), and is pending before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency that investigates discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment At, and other employment discrimination laws.
Case Documents
Media
Naomi Nix, Female truckers group alleges Facebook’s ad system is discriminatory, Washington Post (Dec. 1, 2022).
Josh Eidelson, Facebook Job Ads Illegally Discriminate, Female Truckers Say, Bloomberg (Dec. 1, 2022).
Jessica Guynn, Are Facebook job ads discriminatory? Company accused of bias against women, older workers, USA Today (Dec. 1, 2022).
Paresh Dave, Facebook accused by female truckers of skewing job ads, Reuters (Dec. 1, 2022).
