The term borrows from redlining, when lenders denied mortgages in Black neighborhoods. Today, the pattern can repeat through infrastructure decisions. In 2022, an investigation by The Markup examined internet offers at more than 800,000 addresses in 38 cities. AT&T, Verizon, EarthLink and CenturyLink disproportionately offered slow service at the same price as fast service to lower-income and least-white neighborhoods. In every city with digitized historical maps, the worst offers went disproportionately to formerly redlined areas.
Online platforms can also discriminate. In 2019, the Department of Housing and Urban Development charged Facebook with letting advertisers exclude users from housing ads by traits linked to race and other protected classes. In 2022, Meta settled a related Justice Department case and agreed to change its ad delivery system.
Digital redlining matters because it is hard to see. A person who never sees a job ad or a fast internet plan does not know what was withheld. It extends the digital divide and the geography of old redlining maps into new systems.