(Montreal) Quebec’s Court of Appeal has upheld a class action lawsuit against Facebook alleging the social network discriminates on the basis of age, gender or origin in the targeting of its ads, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said Wednesday.
The California social media giant must pay damages to thousands of Quebecers who used the platform for jobs and housing since 2016 and whose ads may have been hidden because of these discriminatory standards.
“We are pleased with the ruling of the Quebec Court of Appeal,” said Audrey Boctor, the plaintiff’s lawyer, citing “widespread discriminatory practices.”
“Algorithmic discrimination that prevents certain groups of people from receiving job advertisements, such as women and older workers, is a modern form of the same type of discrimination prohibited under the Quebec Charter,” she said in an email.
A class action was initiated in 2019, which was earlier dismissed by the Court of First Instance.
Contacted by AFP, Facebook’s parent company, Meta, declined to comment on the Quebec Court of Appeal’s decision, but assured that it had taken steps to “promote non-discrimination and equity. [ses] Advertising systems.
The group has also faced similar lawsuits in the United States. In June, the company agreed to change its ad targeting practices and pay $115,054 in fines to settle a lawsuit from the US government that accused it of facilitating racial and gender discrimination.
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