Fifty years ago, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) was enacted to prohibit and eradicate systemic age discrimination that aging workers faced in the workplace. Congress determined that older workers faced discrimination in hiring, and that the arbitrary setting of age limits led to higher unemployment rates for older workers, see 29 U.S.C. Section 621.

In an effort to thwart such discrimination, Congress prohibited employers and employment agencies from discriminating based on age in employment, advertising, recruiting, hiring and other employment opportunities, and also made it unlawful to send or publish employment ads that discriminate or indicate a preference or limitation based on age.

The seldom used, but often-overlooked provision of the ADEA prohibiting a preference for age in advertising has come into sharp focus in the social media age and rightfully so, considering how much money is spent on ads. Advertising revenue on social media in 2017 was projected to be $41 billion. In 2016, ads seen on Facebook and Twitter alone made up about three-quarters of the social media ad market.