A class action lawsuit against Facebook, accused of discrimination because of its advertising targeting for rental housing and job offers, has just been authorized by the Court of Appeal. Claims could reach 100 million.
The motion, initially denied by the Superior Court, alleges that Facebook allows all kinds of discrimination based on ethnic origin, age, gender or marital status by not regulating the publication of ads on its platform.
In the documents requesting permission to bring the class action, the lawyers for the firm IMK deplore the fact that employers and housing rental companies engage in targeting practices in their paid advertising. Thus, only users matching a certain profile can see their ads.
The application argues that this practice deprives many users of job offers or housing, in particular. She cites several examples, such as an ad from the National Arts Center offering 20 positions, but only targeting users between the ages of 18 and 55 living in Ottawa. “This means that people older than 55 could not receive this announcement”, can we read.
In its decision authorizing the class action to proceed, the Court of Appeal emphasized that the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms must “adjust to the new forms of discrimination likely to emerge in the digital world and , likewise, collective action to the realities arising from the use of social networks like Facebook”.
The class action petition was filed on behalf of Lyse Beaulieu, a 65-year-old Montreal legal assistant who, according to the document, actively sought work when she was 63, on several job boards.
According to the petition, given her age, she did not receive any ads on Facebook, despite being an “active user” of the social network, which caused her harm.
In December 2020, Facebook announced rules to ban discrimination in job, housing and credit service ads in Canada, saying advertisers could no longer target people based on sex. age, gender or postal code.
But in an update to their request, IMK’s lawyers argue that these changes relate only to the tools available to advertisers and not the selection made by Facebook’s algorithms.
The social network had been sued in the United States for the same reasons.
With Marissa Groguhé, The Press