Prohibits discriminatory advertisement practices in relation to the sale or renting of housing; allows for the division of human rights to investigate such occurrences.
This bill amends New York’s Human Rights Law to prohibit discriminatory digital advertising practices in housing-related advertising. It applies to digital ads used to promote, market, or offer housing opportunities, including rentals, sales, and lending-related services, and bars targeting based on age, race, gender, zip code, narrow geographic radius, certain interest categories tied to protected traits, and lookalike-audience tools when used in a discriminatory way. The bill also prohibits any targeting technique that has the purpose or effect of discriminating against a protected class.
The measure defines key terms such as “digital advertisement,” “seed audience,” “targeting,” and “digital advertising platform,” and gives the Division of Human Rights authority to update the list of prohibited techniques through regulation as technology changes. It also requires the division to review targeting techniques at least every two years, assess new technologies and discriminatory uses, and investigate complaints involving digital ad platforms under existing human rights procedures. The division must also refer preliminary findings to the Attorney General to determine whether the conduct may violate state consumer protection laws.
The bill would expand the Executive Law’s housing discrimination provisions to cover online ad-targeting practices and platform algorithms, creating a new enforcement framework for digital advertising in housing. It authorizes the Division of Human Rights to investigate complaints, audit algorithms, source code, and related data, and order changes to prevent discriminatory ad targeting, with a right of appeal to state supreme court. Housing advertisers, social media platforms, ad networks, and search engines that sell ads would be affected, along with landlords, brokers, lenders, and other housing-related advertisers using digital targeting tools.
Based on the bill text and available context, the measure appears to be framed as a civil rights and fair housing protection bill, with an emphasis on preventing modern forms of discrimination in online advertising. There is no recorded committee transcript or vote history provided, so no formal support or opposition can be measured from the available record. The structure of the bill suggests a policy goal of proactive enforcement and technology oversight rather than a narrow one-time prohibition.
The main points of potential contention are the breadth of the prohibited targeting rules and the enforcement powers granted to the Division of Human Rights. Critics could object to restrictions on common digital advertising tools such as geographic targeting, lookalike audiences, and interest-based targeting, arguing they may be overinclusive or burdensome for legitimate marketing. Another likely concern is the requirement that platforms provide access to algorithms, source code, and underlying data, which could raise privacy, trade secret, and operational burdens for digital advertising platforms. Supporters would likely emphasize that these tools can reproduce or intensify housing discrimination and that the bill is needed to keep fair housing law current with digital advertising practices.