Facebook, Amazon, and Hundreds of Companies Post Targeted Job Ads That Screen Out Older Workers (vox.com)

Older workers are accusing Facebook, Ikea, and hundreds of other companies for discriminating against job seekers in their 50s and 60s through targeted job ads posted on Facebook. From a report: The Communications Workers of America, a labor union representing 700,000 media workers across the country, added the companies to a class-action lawsuit on Tuesday, which was filed in California federal court in December. In its original complaint, the labor union accused Amazon, T-Mobile, and Cox Media Group of doing the same thing. The case, Bradley v. T-Mobile, has major implications for US employers, who routinely buy job ads on Facebook to reach users. The plaintiffs argue that Amazon, T-Mobile, Ikea, Facebook, and hundreds of other companies target the ads so they are only seen by younger Facebook users.

The lawsuit revolves around Facebook's unique business model, which lets advertisers micro-target the network's users based on their interests, city, age, and other demographic information. In the past, equal rights advocates have sued Facebook for accepting ads that discriminate against consumers based on their religion, race, and gender. Facebook has argued that the company is not legally responsible when other companies buy ads that violate the law.

Comments

First question..

[fluffernutter]

The first question that comes to my mind is, why would ANYONE be honest when entering their information into Facebook?

Re:First question..

[lucasnate1]

I live in a country (Israel) where people were fired because their workplaces monitored their facebook walls and found out they spoke against the army. I was also told, when I wanted to apply for a job, that I will have to make sure my facebook account is clean, and that lying that I don't have facebook would seem suspicious. I have heard that in the US, there are workplaces that wlll not hire you if you don't have an active facebook.

Does this answer your question? (And yes, I do agree that there are ways around this).

Re:First question..

[SantiagoMcRib]

I have heard that in the US, there are workplaces that wlll not hire you if you don't have an active facebook.

No employer in America would decide against hiring you because you don't have an active facebook account.

However, you might not be the "right fit" for the company.

It's time for better older worker protection...

[TigerPlish]

Older workers need better job protection -- Too easy / tempting to let them go, chances of getting hired at a similar pay rate as the lost job are slim, and contrary to what people think, the days of fat retirements are long gone. Older workers are at great risk. Greater than other classes, I would say.

But of course, the public at large don't see it like that, the politicians can't be bothered to care, and companies only care about moneymoneymoney.

Target Ads

[tempmpi]

I have nothing against targeted ads, but advertiser should be forced to reveal their target to the receiver of the ad. I think this would stop most of the abuse and would easy way to regulate this.

Re:Your resume should look young...

[ranton]

I expect that this comment is going to end up at "-1 Troll" like many of the other times I've talked about my experienced with older workers, because apparently when you're still (barely) in your 20s you can't talk about these kinds things.

You can certainly talk about these kinds of things, but you also need to accept that it will be hard to be taken seriously. It is like a man talking about how painful child birth is. Or a parent with one child who thinks their parenting experience would fully prepare them for their second child. (you're probably too young to understand how wrong that one is)

If you are barely in your 20's, you are probably just out of college. Or started your career without college. Heaven forbid you are still in college (you are simply a moron if you think you have insight into this if you haven't been in the industry yet). Your insight seems like it comes from someone who has only been working for a few years, and has only worked closely with perhaps a dozen or so colleagues. In truth your comments seem driven by blog posts you have read and not real experience.

I am in my late 30's, and of course I have dealt with older coworkers who have no business still being in the industry. But I have also dealt with far more younger coworkers who have literally no idea what they are doing. The most common issue with younger developers that I see (including myself with only 15 years of experience) is they just don't know what they don't know. They cannot identify the difference between maintainable code and unmaintainable code. They can certainly identify the unmaintainable code, but mistakenly think their code is better just because it makes more sense to them. Or because it hasn't yet went through 10 years of updates and modifications. Just wait. Everyone thinks their shiny new system is incredibly extensible.

That is of course not fair to all young workers. One simple way to identify a truly competent young worker is that they are fully aware how inexperienced they are, and rarely assume they know very much. A 25 year old who brags about their easily maintainable and extensible code will get more pity from me than admiration, because he is almost certainly wrong (the ones who are good enough also rarely brag about it). I am fairly new to management, and I believe the primary thing which helped in the transition is I didn't assume I would be naturally good at it just because I have watched other people do it or read a bunch of books.

You may not be a troll, but you certainly have a lot to learn.