Facebook's 'ethnic affinity' advertising sparks concerns of racial profiling

Advertisers can target African American-, Asian American- and Hispanic-affiliated groups through the site

Universal Studios was able to show completely different trailers for Straight Outta Compton, the biopic of rap group NWA, to different racial groups on Facebook, thanks to a little-known feature on the social network called "racial affinity targeting".

The feature, which has been available to marketers since November 2014, categorises users in terms of their interests like many other Facebook advertising tools. But it uniquely categorises those clusters of interests in terms of related racial groups, allowing Universal to show very different versions of the Straight Outta Compton trailer to white and black audiences.