Hello readers,
The current problem at hand revolves around targeted job advertisements. As stated by the Ontario Human Rights Commission, “advertisements for jobs should not refer, directly or indirectly, to prohibited grounds of discrimination” (ohrc.on.ca). The violation of this law infringes on basic human rights. Advertisements targeted to specific individuals based on age are only acceptable where it is part of a specific initiative such as job programs for summer students (Thompson 2019).
In recent years, studies have found that advertisements posted to the widely used social media network, Facebook, can be argued to have violated this human right. Although the advertisements may not have specifically stated that the job opening is available only to individuals of a specific age or gender, Facebook has allowed for advertisements to be filtered to only be shown on certain profiles which meet the criteria set by the employer.
Who is held responsible for this? Is Facebook to blame for implementing the settings which allow companies to set these guidelines for targeted advertisements? Or is it the company’s responsibility to remain inclusive of all ages and genders when posting advertisements as well as generating the advertisements?
I believe that both groups are responsible for ensuring their actions or policies do not infringe on human rights and remain unbiased towards all groups. Facebook programming should not have allowed for the setting to filter users based on age or gender when it comes to viewing advertisements. The actions of the companies creating these advertisements may be violating the human rights code stated above, which can be done so through the sole targeting of younger or older potential applicants. Elizabeth Thompson at CBC News (2019) states that these companies may have found ways to get around this violation while still using targeting on job advertisements. This was argued as the company being open to all ages and genders for potential applicants but creating different advertisements that appeal to the different groups. Do you think this is right? Would this still be a human rights violation or is it just a smart business strategy?
One study found that a specific job posting was looking for applicants over the age of 35 because those under that age requirement often don’ have the proper qualifications. Later in the hiring process, the study found that 2 of 25 employees hired were under the age of 35. Not only does targeting advertisements infringe on human rights but it also limits the company’s pool of applicants and may result in a missed opportunity for the company.
How do you propose we come to a solution to this problem without violating human rights? Getting rid of all filters in Facebook settings would create chaos in advertising and could open up a bigger problem that links with the current problem of employers actions being taken to reduce their applicant pool.
Thanks for reading!
– Julia
Links:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/facebook-employment-job-advertisements-discrimination-1.5086491
Click to access Guide%20to%20Your%20Rights%20and%20Responsibilities%20Under%20the%20Code_2013.pdf
Julia Papaevangelou's Blog 2019 
Hey Julia,
Your blog post about targeted advertisement regarding job postings is very interesting because we hear a lot about targeted ads, but not really in the form of job listings. What type of jobs did you find were abusing this system on Facebook? Did you find that it was mostly a lot of part time hourly wage jobs or were the advertised jobs mostly salary based “career” jobs? I personally think that filters such as this are important so jobs can quickly “sift” through their applicants and know that they aren’t wasting any time with any unqualified applicants. However your view on missing out on potentially a very good candidate due to the filters ring very true. This is a very interesting topic you are writing about, thanks for the good read!
Jeff
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Hi Julia,
Thank you for sharing this news article. I find this topic very interesting because I have never heard of or thought about targeted job advertisements. The method is understandable as the firm wants to find the most qualified person most efficiently. On the other hand, as you said, not giving chances to all the ages is unfair. Additionally, the company is not supposed to discriminate based on age. I agree with you that every age group should be given equal opportunity to see the job advertisement and apply for it. Although Facebook advertisement filter is necessary as some advertisements are not suitable for a certain age group to view, I believe it shouldn’t be applied to job advertisements.
I really enjoyed reading your post! Thanks!
Elsie
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Hi Julia,
I loved reading this post – this is a very interesting topic that you’ve chosen! Advertisements for employment opportunities can definitely be directed at a certain group of candidates, perhaps as a first screening process. As the job advertisements are directed at these candidates, they are able to encourage those ‘high achieving’ candidates to apply while discouraging the others. My question to you is: when does this type of advertising become discriminatory?
As you stated earlier in your post, the Ontario Human Rights Commission specifies that “advertisements for jobs should not refer, directly or indirectly, to prohibited grounds of discrimination”. However, what exactly are the prohibited grounds of discrimination for employers when posting these advertisements? Would filtering on age or education be considered to be discrimination?
I do agree that through the filtering of advertisements, employers may lose valuable candidates that do not meet their ‘ideal’ criteria. However, the probability of them receiving such employee may be less than the probability of hiring an equally good employee within their filtered search. In order to come up with a solution to this issue, we need to first (1) identify how job advertisement filtering is discriminatory, and (2) how can we get companies to be transparent about their advertising policies? What do you think about this?
Thank you for your post again! I really enjoyed reading it and look forward to your response!
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