Meta Challenges French Ruling on Facebook's Discriminatory Job Advertisement Algorithm

Brussels:

Meta Platforms has firmly rejected a ruling issued by the French rights watchdog concerning its algorithm following allegations of discriminatory job advertisements on Facebook.

The independent watchdog, Defenseur des Droits (Defender of Rights), stated in its October 10 ruling that Meta's system discriminates against Facebook users based on gender, constituting a form of indirect sex-based discrimination.

The ruling recommended that Meta Ireland and Facebook France implement measures to ensure non-discriminatory job advertisements, giving the American tech giant a three-month deadline to inform the French authority about the steps taken.

This case highlights the strict stance French authorities maintain against Big Tech companies regarding antitrust and privacy matters.

"We disagree with this decision and are assessing our options," a Meta spokesperson stated.

The campaign group Global Witness, together with French women's rights organizations Foundation for Women (Fondation des Femmes) and Women Engineers (Femmes Ingénieures), who had filed the complaint with the rights body, expressed satisfaction with the ruling.

"This appears to be the first time a European regulator has decided that a social media platform's algorithm discriminates by gender, presenting a major step forward in holding these platforms accountable to existing law," they declared in a joint statement.