Employers commonly utilize social media to gather information about prospective employees as part of the hiring process. Although social media can be very useful for this purpose, the law on what is permissible use by an employer is underdeveloped. While we wait for the law to catch up to technology, it is imperative that employers are advised as to the existence of certain legal pitfalls when using social media in the hiring process, as well as those practices they can implement to help avoid future liability.<\/p>\n
Targeted Advertising<\/strong><\/p>\n Federal, state and local anti-discrimination laws prohibit discrimination in hiring based on a prospective employee’s protected class. Employers can unwittingly run afoul of these laws, however, when they use social media to recruit or research prospective employees. For example, more and more employers are using targeted advertising to recruit employees. This form of advertising allows employers to use social media platforms, like Facebook, to select a targeted audience based on a range of factors, including age, race and interest. Using the extensive data it collects from its members, social media sites are then able to specifically isolate the employer’s advertisement so that it is shown only to those recipients that fall within the employer’s chosen audience.<\/p>\n