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A04002 Summary:

BILL NOA04002
 
SAME ASNo Same As
 
SPONSORRosenthal
 
COSPNSR
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Amd §§296 & 295, Exec L
 
Prohibits discriminatory advertisement practices in relation to the sale or renting of housing; allows for the division of human rights to investigate such occurrences.
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A04002 Actions:

BILL NOA04002
 
01/30/2025referred to governmental operations
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A04002 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          4002
 
                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    January 30, 2025
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  ROSENTHAL  --  read once and referred to the
          Committee on Governmental Operations
 
        AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to prohibiting the use of
          discriminatory advertisement practices in housing
 
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section  1.  Subdivision  2-a  of  section 296 of the executive law is
     2  amended by adding a new paragraph (c-2) to read as follows:
     3    (c-2) (1) To utilize any of  the  following  techniques  in  targeting
     4  digital  advertisements  intended  to  promote, market, or offer housing
     5  opportunities, including rentals, sales, or related services:  targeting
     6  of  advertisement  audiences  based  on  age, race, gender, or zip code,
     7  targeting by location with less than a  fifteen-mile  radius,  targeting
     8  advertisements  using  categories  referencing causes, organizations, or
     9  public figures that relate  to  health,  race  or  ethnicity,  political
    10  affiliation, religion, or sexual orientation, and using tools that allow
    11  an  advertiser  to generate an advertisement audience that resembles the
    12  composition of a seed audience of users provided by the advertiser.   It
    13  shall  be  further prohibited to use any digital advertisement targeting
    14  technique that has the purpose or effect of discriminating  against  any
    15  person or group based on any protected characteristic listed under para-
    16  graph  (a)  of  this  subdivision.  In order to ensure that such list of
    17  prohibited targeting techniques remains current, the division shall have
    18  the authority to issue regulations prohibiting  the  use  of  additional
    19  targeting  techniques.  The division shall conduct a review of targeting
    20  techniques no less than once every two years that shall  assess  techno-
    21  logical developments in digital advertising targeting techniques, evalu-
    22  ate  the  potential discriminatory impacts of new technological develop-
    23  ments and new potentially  discriminatory  uses  of  existing  targeting
    24  techniques, and promulgate regulations to prevent the use of discrimina-
    25  tory  and  potentially  discriminatory  targeting techniques. Complaints
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02499-01-5

        A. 4002                             2
 
     1  alleging discriminatory  practices  by  digital  advertising  platforms,
     2  including  but  not limited to, unlawful targeting techniques or the use
     3  of targeting techniques with discriminatory effect,  shall  be  investi-
     4  gated  and  adjudicated  pursuant to section two hundred ninety-seven of
     5  this article.
     6    (2) For the purposes of this subdivision, the  following  terms  shall
     7  have the following meanings:
     8    (i) "Digital advertisement" means any communication delivered by elec-
     9  tronic  means that is intended to be used for the purposes of marketing,
    10  solicitation, or dissemination of information related, directly or indi-
    11  rectly, to goods or services provided by the  digital  advertiser  or  a
    12  third party.
    13    (ii) "Seed audience" means a group of users provided by the advertiser
    14  that  serves  as the basis for creating a broader audience of users with
    15  similar attributes, characteristics and behaviors to the seed audience.
    16    (iii) "Targeting" means using data about users to select  and  display
    17  digital  advertisements  or  other  forms  of  commercial  content.   It
    18  includes, but is not limited to, contextual  advertising  based  on  the
    19  content  of the webpages and keywords used in searches, segmented adver-
    20  tising based on known characteristics  of  individuals,  and  behavioral
    21  advertising based on observed behavior.
    22    §  2.  Section  295  of  the  executive law is amended by adding a new
    23  subdivision 19 to read as follows:
    24    19. To compel a digital advertising  platform  to  give  the  division
    25  access  to  the  underlying  algorithms  and/or  techniques used by such
    26  digital advertising platform for advertisement targeting in response  to
    27  a  credible  complaint  against a digital advertising platform and/or as
    28  part of the mandatory biennial review  required  pursuant  to  paragraph
    29  (c-2)  of  subdivision  two-a  of section two hundred ninety-six of this
    30  article. The division may conduct  an  audit  of  the  underlying  data,
    31  source code, and/or any other similar information necessary to determine
    32  whether  a  violation  of  such  provisions  of  this  section  may have
    33  occurred. At the conclusion of such audit, the division may compel  such
    34  digital  advertising  platform  to make any necessary changes to prevent
    35  the algorithm or technique  from  producing  discriminatory  results  in
    36  advertisement  targeting.    The digital advertising platform shall have
    37  sixty days to appeal such order to the New York state supreme court. For
    38  the purposes of this subdivision, "digital advertising platform" means a
    39  public-facing internet website, web application, or digital application,
    40  including a social network, ad network, or  search  engine,  that  sells
    41  advertisements either directly to advertisers or to intermediaries.
    42    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
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