Facebook probed over housing bias

Facebook proudly promotes its extensive use of user data to help businesses reach exactly the “right” people.

But New York State has launched an investigation into whether the social media giant is actually using its vaunted algorithms and profiling tools to help advertisers discriminate against people searching for housing.

“The allegations against Facebook advertisers are extremely troubling and fly in the face of everything that New York stands for,” Gov. Cuomo said. “(We will) investigate these claims and help ensure that New Yorkers seeking housing for themselves and their families are not discriminated against.”

Facebook’s powerful advertising platform is capable of intensively segmenting users, breaking them down by zip code, interests, marital status and other characteristics.

Many businesses can legally use such information to sell their products.

But fair housing laws bar parties like landlords, mortgage providers and banks from seeking to reach — or avoid — particular groups of people.

For example, a white landlord in New York might illegally want to reach potential tenants in Ridgewood, Queens while avoiding minority residents of Bushwick, Brooklyn just a few blocks away.

The probe will mostly center on the housing providers and their decision-making in using Facebook, an official said.

“(We are) committed to ensuring that all New Yorkers are protected and not discriminated against, no matter whether they’re engaging in social media apps or simply opening a bank account,” said financial services Superintendent Linda A. Lacewell.

The claims mirror some of the allegations in a suit against Facebook filed in March by the federal department of Housing and Urban Development.

It could mark another black eye for the social media giant which is already facing widespread questions about misuse of users’ data and whether it allowed foreign sponsored fake news to flourish during the 2016 presidential elections.