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New York after Facebook for alleged discriminatory advertising platforms

Cuomo ordered two state agencies to investigate if Facebook may be accessing far more personal information from smartphone users, including health

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday ordered the U.S. Department of Financial Services to investigate reports that state-regulated advertisers were using Facebook Inc's advertising platform in a discriminatory manner.

This is the second investigation that the state governor has ordered into the social media company this year.

In February, Cuomo ordered two state agencies to investigate a report that Facebook may be accessing far more personal information from smartphone users, including health and other sensitive data, than had previously been known.

On Monday, Cuomo cited reports which said the social network allows advertisers to modify or block ads using ZIP code information to exclude consumers based on race, color, national origin, religion, familial status, sex and disability, among other classifications.

The company is facing a similar probe at the federal level, in which the Trump administration has accused Facebook of selling targeted advertising that discriminated on the basis of race, in violation of the U.S. Fair Housing Act.

The probes have come despite Facebook agreeing in March to overhaul its paid advertising platform, as part of a wide-ranging settlement with U.S. civil rights groups, which had filed five separate lawsuits accusing the company of enabling discrimination in advertising.

In related news Facebook evacuated four buildings and two people were being evaluated for possible exposure to the nerve agent sarin on Monday after a package at the social media company's Silicon Valley mail facility tested positive for the toxic compound.

The people who came in contact with the suspicious package at about 11am did not show any symptoms of exposure to sarin, said Jon Johnston, fire Marshall for the city of Menlo Park, where Facebook is based.

”The (Facebook) facility tests all of the packages that come in and they had a positive test, so they just initiated their standard protocol. Now we're just waiting to verify whether that’s true or not,” he said.