US Female Workers Sue Facebook Over 'Gender Discrimination' In Job Ads - Advocacy Group

Newly filed class action charges allege that Facebook and 10 other employers engaged in gender discrimination by delivering job ads selectively based on age and sex, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) advocacy group said in a press release on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th September, 2018) Newly filed class action charges allege that Facebook and 10 other employers engaged in gender discrimination by delivering job ads selectively based on age and sex, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) advocacy group said in a press release on Tuesday.

"The ACLU, Outten & Golden LLP, and the Communications Workers of America filed charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Facebook and 10 other employers for unlawfully discriminating on the basis of gender by targeting their job ads on Facebook to male Facebook users only, excluding all women and non-binary users from receiving the ads," the ACLU said in the release.

Targeting job ads by sex is unlawful under Federal, state and local civil rights laws, the ACLU added.

Tuesday's charges were filed on behalf of three female workers, labor union Communications Workers of America (CWA) and a class of millions of women allegedly denied information on job opportunities due to their gender.

The gender discrimination charges come as the latest blow for Facebook, which has faced backlash from the public and experts over various policies used by the company. In March, the social media company faced sharp criticism after it emerged that personal data of about 50 million users had been harvested by Cambridge Analytica without their permission via a special app. The information was allegedly used to help target political advertising.

In early April, Facebook estimated the number of users affected at around 87 million.