There are fewer Pokemon Go locations in black neighborhoods, but why?

This is untentionally hilarious.

Come on man, entire countries are excluded from pokemon go, just look at China.

Well most of the location data comes from the other previous game the company developed.

So you just have to ask yourself why fewer people want to wander into perceived ghetto areas with their smartphones.

Because marketing and because it could be too much. Don't wanna offend too many non-players that would give negative feedback to the overall appeal of the game. At the frequency I see it mentioned, it can become quite annoying. Probably there are sub-cultures not close to the target group.

The POIs are user-submitted.

Sure, but the players running around will try to save face the same way. Then, maybe they are just less active. If the areas happen to be poorer neighborhoods, obesity and poor fitness are correlated, as well. Can the locations have a weight? Maybe the groups are just bigger, and hence, less spread. I should read the article, but meh.

Edit: well, the article talks about the locations from a previous game, ingress, because there is no current list for the new game.