Meta to pay $1m to settle discriminatory job ads suit

The class action revealed how the world's largest social network enabled Israeli employers to define exposure to employment advertising by age and gender.

Meta (formerly Facebook) will pay $1 million and implement a comprehensive reform of its advertising in Israel, in a precedent-setting settlement filed this week in the District Labor Court. The settlement reveals how the largest social network in the world allowed employers to discriminate against job seekers on grounds of age and gender.

The affair began in September 2021, when Ya’ala Lev, a sales and marketing worker aged 54, discovered that she was barred from many wanted ads on Facebook. The investigation she carried out revealed a sophisticated mechanism: Facebook’s campaign management system enabled employers to define in a precise way the criteria for candidates that would be exposed to job ads, including age range, gender, and place of residence.

Adv. Matan Gutman, who, together with Adv. Nir Friedman, filed the class action, said that the ads were completely invisible for whole groups of job seekers, chiefly those aged over 40.

The investigation found that major companies such as Israel Electric Corporation, the Bank of Israel, and several technology companies, used the system to focus their job ads on young people only. 888, for example, advertised management positions for people aged 25-39, and other companies restricted exposure of their ads to candidates aged under 45.

The severity of the findings led the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to join the proceeding. The Commission stated that the matter was "material to the question of equality in obtaining work, with broad social and public consequences."

Under the settlement, Meta will transfer $1 million to the class actions fund at the Ministry of Justice, and will also implement a series of material changes in its advertising system in Israel. The company will oblige all advertisers resident in Israel to reconfirm their compliance with policies that forbid the use of Meta products for discrimination. It will also publish guidelines in Hebrew for advertisers in Israel making clear that "the opportunities displayed in employment advertisements must address the entire public, including all population groups, regardless of particular personal characteristics." The document will contain detailed instructions on how to publish job ads in an egalitarian and non-discriminatory manner, stressing the legal obligation to allow equal access to jobs for all potential candidates.

"The settlement is an important development for the value of equality in the employment market in the modern age of social networks," Gutman and Friedman said. "The arrangements that have been formulated will greatly help in reducing discriminatory employment advertising, and in educating employers that publication of employment notices that are segmented for a specific target audience, such as ‘men under 35’, is illegal."

The Israeli case joins similar lawsuits brought against Meta in the US and Canada. The settlement will come into force after final approval by the court, and can be expected to affect job ads on all digital platforms in Israel.

Meta was represented in the proceedings by Adv. Dr. Gil Orion and Adv. Yael Riemer of FBC & Co.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 26, 2024.

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