{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0328","record_version":1,"title":"French equality watchdog rules Facebook job-ads algorithm is sexist","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":47.0,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":3.0,"completeness":3.52,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: The Guardian · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":1,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: The Guardian · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"3ea7aaa6bf792d645b51c5e67245faf041d3f74380e7127adf1f917ad1e443e9"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"Meta","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":"placing job adverts","safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2025-11-05","incident_class":"bias_disparate_impact","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"Facebook's job-advert delivery system, which decides which users see targeted job ads, was the subject of a French equality watchdog ruling. Global Witness, a campaign group, posted adverts containing links to jobs in several countries, including France, the UK, Ireland and South Africa. Its study found that in France nine out of 10 people shown an advert for mechanic vacancies were male, while the same proportion of recipients of ads for preschool teachers were female. The Défenseur des Droits watchdog said the system treated users differently based on their sex and constituted indirect discrimination. The ruling is not legally binding. The regulator recommended that Facebook and Meta take measures to ensure adverts were non-discriminatory, giving three months to report. Meta rejected the ruling, saying it disagreed and was assessing its options. A complainant group welcomed the decision.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null,"primary_risk":"RK16"},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"major","severity_because":"Test: regulator involved. The Défenseur des Droits watchdog, a French regulator, ruled the system indirectly discriminatory by sex.","harm_class":["discriminatory"],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/05/facebook-job-ads-algorithm-is-sexist-french-equality-watchdog-rules","publisher":"The Guardian","date":"2025-11-05","type":"press","title":"Facebook’s job ads algorithm is sexist, French equality watchdog rules - The Guardian","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report","independence":"independent"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.developer":"C","system.intended_use":"C","event.incident_class":"C","impact.harm_class":"C","context.country":"C","impact.severity":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.primary_risk":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The regulator recommended that Facebook and its parent company, Meta, took measures to ensure adverts were non-discriminatory, giving the company three months to inform the French body of the measures."}],"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The French equalities regulator has declared that Facebook’s algorithm for placing job adverts is sexist, after an investigation found that adverts for mechanic roles skewed towards men while those for preschool teachers were targeted at women."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The Défenseur des Droits watchdog said the Facebook system for targeted job ads treated users differently based on their sex, and constituted indirect discrimination."}],"impact.harm_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The Défenseur des Droits watchdog said the Facebook system for targeted job ads treated users differently based on their sex, and constituted indirect discrimination."}],"context.country":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The French equalities regulator has declared that Facebook’s algorithm for placing job adverts is sexist, after an investigation found that adverts for mechanic roles skewed towards men while those for preschool teachers were targeted at women."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The Défenseur des Droits watchdog said the Facebook system for targeted job ads treated users differently based on their sex, and constituted indirect discrimination."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The Défenseur des Droits watchdog said the Facebook system for targeted job ads treated users differently based on their sex, and constituted indirect discrimination."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The French equalities regulator has declared that Facebook’s algorithm for placing job adverts is sexist, after an investigation found that adverts for mechanic roles skewed towards men while those for preschool teachers were targeted at women."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The watchdog’s decision came after Global Witness, a campaign group whose remit includes investigating big tech’s impact on human rights, posted adverts on Facebook containing links to a range of jobs in countries including France, the UK, Ireland and South Africa."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The study found that in France specifically nine out of 10 people shown an advert for mechanic vacancies were male, while the same proportion of recipients of ads for preschool teachers were female."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The Défenseur des Droits watchdog said the Facebook system for targeted job ads treated users differently based on their sex, and constituted indirect discrimination."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The regulator recommended that Facebook and its parent company, Meta, took measures to ensure adverts were non-discriminatory, giving the company three months to inform the French body of the measures."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Meta rejected the ruling."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Global Witness, together with French women’s rights organisations the Foundation for Women (La Fondation des Femmes) and Women Engineers (Femmes Ingénieurs), which had complained to the rights body, welcomed the ruling."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"The sources do not state the ruling date, so date_occurred and the ruling timeline entry have no date; date_disclosed uses the article date 2025-11-05 from the Guardian header. The sources do not say the system is an autonomous agent, so agent_involved, autonomy, failure class and trigger are left out. No root cause, controls held or failed, affected-party count, direct loss, records or duration are stated. The regulator's recommendation names no specific control, so no remediation is recorded. Severity major is judged on the regulator being involved. The 2022 US Department of Justice matter about housing ads is a different incident and was excluded. The Global Witness study reports percentages in some countries, not counts, so no affected count is given. Meta is recorded as developer as parent company of Facebook. Country FR is judged from the French regulator and the French study; the ads also reached the UK, Ireland and South Africa. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (1 report: The Guardian · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"FR","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"Facebook's algorithm for placing job adverts decided which users saw job ads.","quote":"The French equalities regulator has declared that Facebook’s algorithm for placing job adverts is sexist, after an investigation found that adverts for mechanic roles skewed towards men while those for preschool teachers were targeted at women.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/05/facebook-job-ads-algorithm-is-sexist-french-equality-watchdog-rules"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"The Défenseur des Droits watchdog ruled the system indirectly discriminatory by sex.","quote":"The Défenseur des Droits watchdog said the Facebook system for targeted job ads treated users differently based on their sex, and constituted indirect discrimination.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"The regulator recommended measures and gave the company three months to report them.","quote":"The regulator recommended that Facebook and its parent company, Meta, took measures to ensure adverts were non-discriminatory, giving the company three months to inform the French body of the measures.","source_index":0,"when":"three months"}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/05/facebook-job-ads-algorithm-is-sexist-french-equality-watchdog-rules"]}}