Facebook has reached separate settlements with the Department of Justice and Department of Labor over its hiring practices related to foreign workers. The settlements stem from allegations the ***** administration brought against Facebook in late 2020. At the time, the DoJ said the company had “inadequately advertised” at least 2,600 positions between 2018 and 2019 that were eventually filled by workers on H-1B visas.
The company allegedly employed a recruitment process that was intentionally designed to dissuade US workers from applying for positions it had set aside for temporary visa holders. Under the DoJ settlement, Facebook will pay $4.75 million to the federal government and up to $9.5 million to eligible victims.
The fines, while a drop in the ocean for a company like Facebook, represent the largest such penalties the Department of Justice has enforced as part of the Immigration and Nationality Act. More significantly, they're another piece of bad news for a company that has been mired in it in recent weeks. At the start of October, whistleblower Frances Haugen testified before Congress how Facebook’s algorithms have hampered its efforts to slow misinformation on its platforms. The company has also faced increasing scrutiny over its efforts to downplay internal research that shows its platforms can be harmful to some young users.
We’ve reached out to Facebook for comment.